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Extinction Rebellion has said 50,000 people are expected to descend on Westminster this weekend for four days of protest it has branded "The Big One".

Today saw groups of demonstrators chant and dance outside government departments as they called for more action to tackle the climate crisis.

It is the group's first major action since announcing it would move away from more controversial methods of protest and "prioritise attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks".

Several events are planned over the remaining three days, including:

• Daily at 3pm: DIY People鈥檚 Assemblies: deliberative democracy in action
  
• Daily at various times: Music and speaker programme featuring Chris Packham, Mya-Rose Craig, Asad Rehman, Juliet Stevenson, Sam Lee, Mark Thomas, Reverend Billy & The Church Of Stop Shopping Choir
• Saturday, 1-3pm:  Biodiversity march and mass 鈥榙ie-in鈥�
• Sunday: Running Out Of Time! London Marathon intersects with The Big One
• Sunday, 4.30pm: 20,000 Small Boats Action at the Home Office
  
• Monday, 1pm: March To End Fossil Fuels
• The finale, Monday, 5pm: Picket Parliament - has the government engaged with our demands or we will be forced to step it up?

A collection of works by artist Oliver Ressler are on display outside the Department for Environment, our climate correspondent Victoria Seabrook reports.

He holds a placard showing an oil spill, talking about the pollution of earth鈥檚 ecosystems.

Another of his placards, held by another demonstrator, reads "More than half of the world鈥檚 original forests have already di鈥�", talking about the destruction of woodland.

"It focuses on the fact that half of the forests that were maybe one million years ago on this planet have already disappeared," he said.

"And already that has quite an effect on the carbon emissions we have in the atmosphere. So therefore, it's really essential to plant trees and to hinder the destruction of existing old-growth forests."

The roads housing government departments around Westminster are reopening, with traffic passing both ways again.

Extinction Rebellion have kicked off their first of four days of protest in central London.

The group is attempting to abandon its disruptive tactics and focus instead on "relationships over roadblocks".

It has called on the government to enter into negotiations with them, giving them until 5pm on 24 April to agree to this.

If the group does not get a response by 10am on 25 April, the group has said it will build "an unprecedented coalition" and "step up campaigning in the weeks and months ahead".

So what are the group's demands?

• XR have called on the government to end all licences, funding and approval for new oil and gas projects;

• They also want ministers to create "emergency citizens assemblies" to tackle the climate crisis;

• One of their long-term aims is also for the UK to legally commit to reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2025.

The backstreets of Westminster right now are reverberating to the sound of Samba beats and deafening drums, writes our correspondent Ivor Bennett.

A large group of demonstrators - numbering in their hundreds and filling the road - are winding their way past numerous government departments, making as much noise as possible.

Ears plugs in, the protesting percussionists blow whistles and bang massive drums that hang from their necks.

Even the most durable double glazing will likely be vibrating.

The protests today represent a significant departure from previous Extinction Rebellion demonstrations, which blocked parts of central London and saw hundreds arrested.

Climate protests in April 2019 featured a pink boat bearing the words "Tell the Truth", which was moored to the street for five days.

Actress Dame Emma Thompson spoke to protesters gathered at Oxford Circus, telling them "our planet is in serious trouble".

More than 680 climate change protesters were arrested and police eventually dismantled the boat before towing it away.

Last year Extinction Rebellion protesters superglued themselves around the Speaker's chair in the House of Commons and padlocked themselves to the railings outside.

The group said around 50 of its supporters "took non-violent action" demanding a citizens' assembly to discuss the climate crisis. At least eight were arrested.

However, earlier this year the group announced it would "temporarily shift away from public disruption" as a tactic to highlight its cause.

Yet while Extinction Rebellion has promised it will not disrupt the London Marathon on Sunday, Just Stop Oil, which is also demonstrating this weekend, has declined to give such assurances.

"There is no Planet B," "Stayin' alive - it's getting harder as our planet heats up" and "Save our Seas" are among some of the banners being waved by Extinction Rebellion protesters today, our climate correspondent Victoria Seabrook reports from the scene.

The crowd has gathered at the crossroads of Great Peter Street, Marsham Street and Great Smith Street, which are home to Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency, Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

All ministries are being targeted today, which is themed around "people's pickets", to highlight that the government is not yet doing enough to meet its promises under the Paris Agreement.

It has cut emissions faster than most rich countries, but analysts and its own advisers say its actions don鈥檛 yet match what is needed.

Two Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled a bridge on the Dartford Crossing causing it to be closed for two days last October have been sentenced to prison. 

Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker were sentenced at Southend Crown Court to three years in prison and two years and seven months in prison respectively for causing a public nuisance.

Just Stop Oil are among the groups protesting in London this weekend, with demonstrators attempting to recruit participants for slow marches it plans to carry out next week.

"Diversionary tactics" - no, that's not a reference to Extinction Rebellion's modus operandi, writes climate correspondent Victoria Seabrook.

It's what one activist thinks the government's recent maths announcements amount to.

The UK's "anti-maths mindset" is hindering improved numeracy and growth, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said this week. He wants to make maths education compulsory until the age of 18.

Campaigner Andrew Hall got the overnight sleeper train from Edinburgh to join the protests.

"This week there's been quite a diversionary tactic by the government to focus on the improvement of maths. Maybe that鈥檚 a good idea," he says.

He holds a giant yellow placard that reads: "Enough Tory maths debate. Climate action now."

He adds: "The point of the poster is that really there are a lot of much greater priorities than maths, climate change being one of the greatest priorities that we should be focused on."

Writers and poets including Zadie Smith have been speaking outside 55 Tufton Street, home to thinktanks linked with climate scepticism, or those that question the cost of climate action, our climate correspondent Victoria Seabrook reports.

These include the Global Warming Policy Foundation, founded by the late Nigel Lawson.

In the crowd of a few hundred people are James and Fabienne Cumming from Warwickshire, who have taken the day off work to protest outside. Their placards read: "Make Earth great again" and "Because there is no Planet B".

"It's not very obvious whose interests they're serving, but they're very influential and very non-transparent," said James Cumming, referring to the fact the thinktanks tend not to disclose their funders.

Those inside the building are "influencing decisions that are made in the Houses of Parliament, which are supposed to be taking decisions based on the views of the electorate, not the views of influential people in this street," he said.

There are a number of roads closed in London due to various protests.

The Met Police have given an update on Twitter: