LONDON - Climate change activist group Extinction Rebellion has used a fire engine to spray fake blood over the steps and entrance to the U.K. Treasury building in Westminster, London.

The group live-streamed the event on Facebook, which showed police officers now guarding the entrance. The organization also posted an image on Twitter which shows the fire engine covered in part with a banner that read "Stop funding climate death."

https://twitter.com/XRebellionUK/status/1179686996966563840

The group's website said 1,800 liters of fake blood had been sprayed. It added that the 'blood' is made from water colored with food dye that can be washed off the building.

It added that the protest is being held to "highlight the inconsistency between the U.K. Government's insistence that the U.K. is a world leader in tackling climate breakdown, while pouring vast sums of money into fossil exploration and carbon-intensive projects"

Speaking on U.K. radio on Thursday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he had sympathy over the right to protests and that the world did face a climate emergency.

Khan warned, however, that police resources to contain public disorder was strained and that anyone who wanted to protest "must do it lawfully and peacefully."