ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners staged protests across Dorset over the Bank Holiday weekend, dropping banners, getting on their bikes and campaigning on the beach to demand action on climate change.

Dozens of members of the Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland branch of Extinction Rebellion organised a mass cycle ride along Weymouth seafront in a bid to encourage more people to use bicycles for transport.

They are now planning to stage a monthly bike ride to raise awareness and encourage council bosses to invest in more cycle lanes.

Group member Penny Quilter was among those on the ride. She said: “The goal is to continue this event once each month and grow it in numbers and make cycling a more popular method of transport. For that to happen the Council really needs to invest in many more safe cycle lanes.”

Amongst the cyclists were two Portland Town Councillors, Giovanna Lewis and Paul Kimber, who is also on Dorset Council’s Executive Advisory Panel assigned with tackling climate and ecological issues.

Cllr Kimber said: “This event is so important for our futures and for the planet. There is no question, we really must reduce fossil fuel consumption to zero”.

Leiza Alpass, who travelled from Dorchester for the event, said: “Cycling is the perfect way to stay healthy, for you and those around you as it is zero emissions. "It’s a no brainer as it’s kinder to myself and kinder to the planet.

“We need more safe cycle paths to encourage more to cycle, more bike storage, bike and bike borrowing schemes.”

Dorset Police Liaison officers attended to support the event and keep participants safe.

The next ‘CommUnity’ Bike Ride will take place on Sunday 20 September, which is national Car Free Day. Participants are being asked to meet at Weymouth Pavilion at 10am.

Following the bike ride, campaigners took to Weymouth beach, occupying deckchairs in the shallows of the sea to demonstrate how they believe rising sea levels will threaten the beach within the next 30 years.

Their sign read: “With climate change sea level rise we won’t have a beach to sit on – act now.”

The next day campaigners took to the streets with a 10ft tall pink dodo statue in a bid to encourage people to switch bank accounts to those they say don’t invest in fossil fuels.

The weekend’s actions were rounded off with a banner drop over the A35.

To reinforce the message of the earlier action at high street banks in Weymouth, the banner read: “What if we all switched to banks which don’t fund fossil fuels”.