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Climate change activists are planning to bring Bristol city centre to a standstill on Saturday, June 1 by ‘swarming’ all over Cabot Circus and Broadmead.

Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion said they will be carrying out a five-hour protest which will include everything from a ‘pop-up’ catwalk to blocking the city centre traffic.

The protest will target Bristol’s fashion and clothes stores, and looks set to cause maximum disruption to Saturday afternoon’s shopping day in the city centre.

UPDATE: Follow our live coverage of the protest here.

In December more than 200 activists brought the inside of Cabot Circus to a standstill with a ‘die-in’, but they are now promising this Saturday’s action will be even bigger.

“From noon until 5pm, the environmental activists will ‘swarm’ roads, temporarily blocking traffic around Cabot Circus and Broadmead, inviting drivers to join in the festivities that will spring up around the shopping quarter,” a spokesperson said.

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As well blocking the roads and disrupting the shopping centre areas, the activist groups will be setting up talks, activities, workshops, clothes swaps, second-hand clothing sales and local and independent stalls to encourage shoppers to ‘engage in more sustainable alternatives and boycott big brand fashion’.

And people heading into Cabot Circus and Broadmead will be urged to not buy any new items of clothing for the next year.

There will also be a ‘pop-up catwalk’, where designers from all around the country will be showing off their work to ‘demonstrate the needed shift away from fast fashion towards a fairer, safer, cleaner, more transparent fashion industry’.

“This is part of a series of disruptive activities planned by Extinction Rebellion to highlight the fashion industry’s contribution to climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution,” said a spokesperson.

“Local activists will be asking fellow Bristol residents to make a pledge to buy no new clothes for one year as part of the group’s #XR52 campaign.

“People will be encouraged to repair, re-use, alter, upcycle and recycle clothes in a year-long boycott aiming to economically disrupt the fashion and textile industry demanding that it drastically changes the way it currently exploits people and planet for profit,” he added.