Six people have been arrested after protesters linked themselves together and blocked roads during a climate change rally.

Police were called to Lothian Road outside Edinburgh's Usher Hall following the alert at 4pm on Monday.

Extinction Rebellion Scotland is calling on the government to do more in response to what they call a "climate crisis and ecological breakdown" as the Climate Bill is to be discussed in Holyrood this week.

Protesters were seen linking their arms through lock tubes as part of the protests.

Major delays are being caused on roads while the protest is being brought to a conclusion.

Superintendent Matt Richards said: "We have been facilitating peaceful protest at the Scottish Parliament since Sunday and have been working alongside our partners at the Parliament and the City of Edinburgh Council to mitigate against disruption to the general public.

"As soon as we became aware of the intention to impact upon the city's road network we took swift action and are continuing to deal with the situation on Lothian Road.

"A small number of arrests have taken place.

"We would urge motorists to avoid the area where possible for the time being and take alternative routes.

"Thank you in advance for your patience and co-operation."

A recent report by the Committee on Climate Change recommended the UK should aim to be net-zero by 2050, with Scotland proposing a target for doing so five years earlier.

The action comes during a five-day protest outside the Scottish Parliament, dubbed the Holyrood Rebel Camp, which is scheduled to run until Thursday.

One activist, 32-year-old Malcolm White, said: "We're blocking traffic and disrupting people's daily lives because we are so afraid of the consequences of the climate emergency and the fact that the government is not taking nearly enough action.

"Their commitment to 2045 is unfortunately ecocide, it is going to be completely inadequate and it relies on technologies which are not prepared, they're not up to scale, and some of them don't even exist yet.

"Whereas actually, we really need to change the system that we live in and work in, in order to make it a more ecologically friendly and more just society."