British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s rhetoric took a Trumpian turn Monday evening as he dismissed the green extremists holding London to ransom as “uncooperative crusties”.

In comments that came as London’s Metropolitan Police arrested hundreds of climate protestors in one day, Mr Johnson spoke at a book launch where he revealed his security advisors had suggested he not travel across London to speak at the event because of the risk posed by a large number of radicals in the city.

Revealing he dismissed the suggestion he skip the event marking the publication of a biography of late Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister called the green extremists who have vowed to keep blocking central London bridges and road junctions “uncooperative crusties… importunate nose-ringed climate change protestors.”

Pictures: 276 Green Extremists Arrested at ‘Extinction Rebellion’ Disturbances in London https://t.co/CRJmf28Do2 — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 8, 2019

Mr Johnson said the best thing the “denizens of the heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs” that had been established to block central London traffic would be to vacate the streets to allow the city to operate again, and to read the biography of Thatcher so they could learn about “a true feminist, green and revolutionary who changed the world for the better.”

London police faced criticism over their handling of the last set of so-called Extinction Rebellion protests when officers allowed the green extremists too much freedom to shut down the city in protests that lasted several days. The large number of arrests on Monday, which came in addition to several arrests and equipment seizures over the weekend preceding the start of the official protest as well as arrests at a pre-protest last week, implies the force may be taking a different route this time.

Over one hundred protesters camped out overnight on Horseferry Road, the home to a number of government ministries. Tuesday morning, Police warned those who remained on the road outside the Department for Transport that if they did not move on they would be arrested.