British PM Boris Johnson has launched a stinging attack on Extinction Rebellion protesters, branding them as “uncooperative crusties” that should stop “littering” the streets of London with their “heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs.”

The climate change movement began a planned two-week shutdown of the capital on Monday, which has ostensibly riled Johnson. Speaking at the launch of the final volume of a biography of Margaret Thatcher written by his former boss at the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore, the prime minister hit out at the group’s actions.

I am afraid that the security people didn’t want me to come along tonight because they said the road was full of uncooperative crusties and protesters of all kinds littering the road.

Johnson also seemed to take aim at the rise of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager whose campaigning on climate change has gained international recognition, claiming that former Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher took the issue “seriously long before” her.

Johnson joked that the best thing for the “nose-ringed” activists making temporary homes in their “hemp-smelling bivouacs” was to buy a copy of his ex-boss’ book on Thatcher, so that they can learn about a “green revolutionary.”

Extinction Rebellion set up temporary camps at many iconic sites in the capital including outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, protesting the lack of action on climate change. By 9:30pm Monday, 280 people had been arrested.

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