Police used a chainsaw to remove climate activists from a sailing boat that demonstrators had pushed into a Washington road close to the White House as part of a citywide protest called Shut Down DC.

Seeking to pressure US politicians into fighting climate change, the activists blocked major traffic hubs across the nation’s capital as they sought to draw attention to a United Nations Climate Summit that kicked off this week with leaders from about 60 countries.

The demonstrators targeted four locations, including Farragut Square in downtown Washington, Columbus Circle, near the Union Station train terminal, and Folger Park on Capitol Hill. The climate summit was being hosted at the UN headquarters in New York City.

Police draped the protesters who attached themselves to the sailing boat in heavy blankets so as to avoid being hit with flying sparks while sawing them from the small vessel. A truck later carted the boat away as about 200 protesters near by chanted: “It’s dire, it’s dire, the house is on fire!”

Shut Down DC was backed by about two dozen groups, including the Metro DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Extinction Rebellion DC and Black Lives Matter DC.

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Washington metropolitan police said they were equipped to handle a demonstration of any size.

Extinction Rebellion promotes non-violent civil disobedience to press governments to cut carbon emissions and avert a climate crisis it fears will bring starvation and social collapse.

Over 11 days in April, the group disrupted parts of London, stopping trains and defacing the building of energy giant Shell.

Those attending the UN summit include the leaders of small island states most at risk from rising sea levels and companies expected to make fresh pledges to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

Donald Trump, who left the UN’s climate summit after about 10 minutes to lead a religious freedom conference, has rolled back Obama-era rules on emission cuts and wants to maximise US energy output.

Monday's protest also seeks to support the strikes of Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who travelled to New York in a sailing boat and is participating in the UN summit.

Speaking to world leaders at the summit, the teenager said: “This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school, on the other side of the ocean.”

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She and 15 other teens later announced they had filed a lawsuit against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey, arguing the major polluters had violated their rights as children.