HUNDREDS of activists have hit the streets of Taunton in a loud and powerful protest against climate change.

The centre of Taunton was brought to a standstill as around 500 members of the public marched from High Street, up North Street, into St James St before pausing by the Brewhouse Theatre.

The event was organised by Extinction Rebellion, who have also been responsible for marches elsewhere in the UK, in addition to a naked protest in parliament last week.

After a song by the riverside to mourn the demise of planet earth, the march returned to St James Street and North Street, before heading down East Street.

After passing McDonalds, Sports Direct and Warbeck, the mass turned around at the junction with East Reach and Silver Street.

With drummers leading the chants and shoppers heading out to investigate, the green march returned along East Street before heading through the Orchard Shopping Centre.

They reached they final resting point on the High Street.

The first trip up the high street was carried out in silence before protestors lay down near the iconic market house.

One of the organisers addressed the crowd on a loudspeaker, and said: "People of Taunton. Good people of Taunton. You may be thinking 'what on earth is going on here?'

"Well, they are pretending to be dead. Pretending to be dead to symbolise the fact our human civilisation is facing a catastrophic threat to its own very survival as a result of climatic breakdown."

After the speech was concluded, the group carried out the rest of the march surrounding by chanting and loud tribal drumming.

Afterwards, Mark Ward, one of the event's organisers, said: "We have just finished our amazing march, I reckon 500 people joined the march.

"We have been all around town with people joining in, cheering us, and we have been giving out leaflets and just spreading the word about the climate emergency.

It has been a really positive day and hopefully we can take it forward from here and carry on campaigning with politicians, businessmen, and individuals to get this thing sorted out - so a really good day."