A woman has begun her second week of a hunger strike, as extinction rebellion members worldwide exert pressure on political leaders to face up to the climate crises.

Petra Metzger, a fashion lecturer at Central Saint Martins, living in Leyton, began her hunger strike on Monday, November 18.

The 37-year-old, who moved to the UK from Germany, says she does not have an end date for the strike, but will take it as far as her body allows.

Petra is calling for leading British politicians to hold one-hour on-camera conversations with members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) on their plans to fight the climate crises.

The hunger strike, a worldwide initiative with 470 people in over twenty countries, was planned to last seven days, but Petra says she is “determined to continue”.

With an estimated 200 people in the UK striking, XR’s focus is to get the political leaders to support an ecological bill.

Petra said: “The hunger strike felt like an important thing to get involved with because it shows are vulnerability to our food supplies, which will be at risk because of climate crises, and how were vulnerable we are to our political leaders and the decisions they are making.

“We need to come together as people to mitigate the climate crises as the worst is yet to come.

“It’s not about a political party, a this is beyond politics. This is a huge crisis and we need to come together and to acknowledge this vulnerability.”

However, Petra admits the strikes have yet to have the desired effect.

“It has been slow this week, but its starting to pick up”, she said in reference to the response from politicians.

Petra says the group met with shadow chancellor John McDonnell and deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey yesterday – which she describes as a “good first step” but lamented the lack of response from Conservative MPs.