Activists with climate action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) have blocked London's Tower Bridge today (Monday, August 30) to demand emergency action on the climate crisis.

Sometime before 2.40pm, when news of the action first surfaced, a group of activists successfully parked a caravan and van beneath one of two towers on the bridge as others gathered across the highway.

The Met Police 'Events' account on Twitter confirmed that the protesters had successfully blocked the bridge on Monday afternoon, and said they were working to end the disruption.

A spokesperson for Met Police events said:

"In the last couple of moments, protesters have blocked Tower Bridge. Activists are using a van and a caravan to obstruct the road.

"Officers were on scene almost immediately. We are working with @CityPolice to get traffic moving again.

"Activists are also laying on the junction north of Tower Bridge, this is causing further disruption. We will provide further updates soon."

XR and their supporters are currently staging two weeks of protests dubbed 'The Impossible Rebellion' to demand rapid action on the worsening climate crisis.

Amid the Tower Bridge action, the group's UK account tweeted Monday:

"Rebels have taken TOWER BRIDGE, and the junction North of there, Mansell St! Tea party is off to a joyous start, with beautiful pink things, come and join us. Join us as we begin a week long intervention on the City of London. The destructive addiction to carbon has to be broken...

"Another Towering achievement from #ExtinctionRebellion as the world’s most famous bridge is BLOCKED...The Impossible Tea Party continues..."

The ongoing XR protests in London follow a landmark report from the United Nations IPCC that detailed the worsening situation regarding the climate crisis in the UK and around the world.

Among the report's findings was the expectation of increasing numbers of extreme weather events like droughts, famines, floods and wildfires across the globe as the planet's atmosphere continues to heat up with the use of fossil fuels.

It pointed out that for every bit of warming that occurs, as is happening at the moment, those effects will get worse. 

The report also said that only rapid, drastic reductions in carbon emissions (like the use of coal, oil and natural gas) in the current decade could prevent such catastrophic scenarios, that many people call "climate breakdown".