Aerial view of the Jacques Cartier Bridge.

Mounties, police service of Canada arrested Extinction Rebellion protesters on Tuesday. The protesters climbed the Jacques Cartier Bridge – a main link to the island city of Montreal- to decry climate inaction.

Equipped with gear for scaling cliffs, they clambered up the steel truss spanning the Saint Lawrence River at dawn, halting traffic during the busy morning commute for an hour.

The Canadian protesters were among hundreds arrested since Monday in cities across the world at the start of two weeks of civil disobedience demanding immediate action to save the Earth from "extinction."

Protesters have chained themselves to vehicles and other structures and lain down in the middle of streets in defiance of police across Europe and parts of Asia, Africa and North America.

On September 27, teen activist Greta Thunberg led a climate march in Montreal with hundreds of thousands coming out for the rally, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.