An 83-year-old man who glued himself to a DLR train alongside other Extinction Rebellion campaigners said he did it for his grandchildren.
Phil Kingston managed to prevent the train leaving Shadwell station this morning after he glued his left hand to the carriage.
He said: "I’m doing this primarily for my grandchildren, because I’ve learned that what they’re heading towards at the moment is an increase in temperature of over 3C. That is suffering and death on an enormous scale.
“I’m just here to ring an alarm bell, to wake up people and say 'please open your eyes,see what’s happening to your children and grandchildren'."
Mr Kingston, from Bristol, is a former university lecturer who is said to have been arrested at least 13 times since becoming an environmental activist later in life.
In April, a judge sentenced him at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court for his part in another protest - but said he was in awe of Mr Kingston's ability to climb onto the roof of a train. "Your knees are better than mine," he remarked.
Mr Kingston today said he was also taking part to represent "the poorest people in the world, mostly living in the tropics - they are experiencing the worst impacts of climate breakdown and environmental breakdown, really wrecking their lives".
There was considerable public backlash to the disruption at Shadwell and other London stations during the morning rush hour, with one activist dragged from the top of a train at Canning Town.
Extinction Rebellion said: "This is a move not taken lightly and which they’d prefer not to take. It is taken to alert people to the inaction of the British government in the face of the climate and ecological emergency."
