Ten people have been arrested after protesters today stormed the trading floor of the International Petroleum Exchange in London as the Kyoto Protocol came into force.

Twenty protesters remained in the building late this afternoon as their counterparts were taken to police stations in the area.

About 50 demonstrators from Greenpeace entered the exchange, near Tower Bridge, just before 1400 GMT when open outcry trading - which is done verbally in a trading pit - was about to begin.

Armed with foghorns, rape alarms and whistles, the group ran around causing sufficient mayhem to disrupt the exchange floor for more than an hour.

Outside, three climbers scaled the building, to hang a banner from the roof declaring: "Climate change kills. Stop pushing oil."

Several other protesters blocked the entrance, sitting cross-legged holding signs while a police helicopter circled overhead.

Ben Stewart, a spokesman for Greenpeace, said: "The reason we did this is that the Kyoto accord has modest targets to cut greenhouse gases. We need huge cuts if we are going to divert dangerous climate change."

Steven Tindale, Greenpeace executive director, said he had been surprised at the reaction of the traders.

He said: "They were pretty cross. They kind of pinned us into the corner. We were non-violent and peaceful and we made it clear that's what we were there for, but there were quite a few blows raining down on our heads.

"They weren’t interested in our message, they just laid into us. They were just swearing at us - it wasn’t very subtle.

A spokeswoman for the exchange said the trading floor re-opened at 15.10 GMT.

She said: "The floor was invaded by a small group of protesters. Open-cry trading was suspended but electronic trading carried on as normal throughout."

Greenpeace said the exchange carried out $1,000 billion of business each year and sets the price for 60 per cent of the world’s oil.

One person has been taken to hospital following the protest, which was expected to continue until 1900 GMT.

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