BBC News
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image captionProtesters say they have no immediate plans to leave the tunnel
Activists staging an underground protest in central London have put themselves in great danger as weather conditions worsen, HS2 said.
At least five HS2 Rebellion campaigners have refused to leave tunnels they have dug under Euston Square Gardens.
Officials have said they are at risk of suffocating or drowning, as weather forecasters warn of heavy rain, sleet and snow.
The activists dug the tunnels to thwart their eviction from a protest camp.
In September, they set up a Tree Protection Camp in Euston Square Gardens in protest against the £106bn HS2 scheme. The campaigners allege that the small green space near Euston station will be built over with a temporary taxi rank, before being sold to developers, as part of plans for the high-speed railway.
HS2 tunnellers holed up beneath a central London park say that they have been “tortured” overnight by bailiffs using sleep deprivation tactics to force them out.A group of at least five protesters
Officers were seen putting on harnesses as they tried to clear demonstrators from the square.
Some were even seen scaling cherrypickers to talk to the activists.
HS2 bailiffs later arrived and started to cut ropes holding the makeshift camp together.
Five people, four men and one woman, were arrested by Met Police.
HS2 have dug a secret network of 100ft (30m) tunnels near Euston Station (Image: PA)
Bailiffs work to remove activists from their protest camp against the HS2 hi-speed rail line (Image: Getty)
Several activists are still believed to be underground within the 100ft tunnels, with police suspecting at least four people were holed up in the secret hideout.