Swampy, the eco warrior who became a household name in the 90s, plans to join Extinction Rebellion protests in the capital, saying they have given him fresh hope.
He spoke out as at least 30,000 climate change protesters joined the second day of a two-week demonstration that has brought parts of London to a standstill.
Yesterday 212 were arrested as activists tried to retain control over 12 sites around Westminster including Parliament Square, Lambeth Bridge and the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace.
Police warned them to move on to Trafalgar Square or face arrest, but protestors defied this by glueing themselves to the Department for Transport and to the underside of a lorry parked outside the Home Office.
More than 200 activists formed barricades on Horseferry Road, leading to Lambeth Bridge.
One group in a nearby street were confronted by Tory peer Lord Andrew Fraser in his dressing gown outside his home there.
Lord Fraser, 72, said he had “had enough of the disruption”, which he called intimidating.
Elsewhere protesters set up fruit and veg stalls in the UK’s biggest meat market at Smithfield, Central London.
Swampy – real name Daniel Hooper, 46 – spoke out in support of the protests after appearing in court yesterday over another Extinction Rebellion protest.
He was fined £40 for blockading one of Britain’s largest oil refineries in Pembroke, West Wales, last month.
He rose to fame in 1996 after living in an underground tunnel in protest at the rerouting of the A30 in Fairmile, Devon.
He said yesterday: “My beliefs are the same as they always were and I did have a quiet 10 years, almost to the point where you have apathy towards how we can change things.
"Then Extinction Rebellion started happening.
“You think there is hope and I believe there is hope. We are in desperate times and need desperate measures.”
Asked if he planned to join in the protests he said: “Yes, definitely. Yes. Yes.
"I’ll be taking the bus to London.
"The only reason I borrowed a car to get here today was because it’s very hard to get here for half nine in the morning.”
He later told ITV: “We need to keep the conversation going about climate change and I think direct action is the best way to keep that going.
"This is, you know, the most important issue of the day. More important than Brexit .”
