--- title: Police Escort Massive Pink 'Octopus' at London Protest description: Jokes have been made about how many police officers it takes to change a lightbulb, but what about how many it takes to escort an "octopus?" canonical: https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-09T15:09:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:03.098Z og:title: This Is Exactly How Many Police It Takes to Escort a Massive Pink 'Octopus' og:description: "The suspect was heavily armed" og:url: https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is Exactly How Many Police It Takes to Escort a Massive Pink 'Octopus' twitter:description: "The suspect was heavily armed" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Is Exactly How Many Police It Takes to Escort a Massive Inflatable Pink 'Octopus' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Extinction Rebellion Climate Activists Block Roads, Stage Protests Worldwide [Watch (HLS stream): Extinction Rebellion Climate Activists Block Roads, Stage Protests Worldwide](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pboha5Du.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2019-10-07. Activists with the Extinction Rebellion movement blocked roads and staged demonstrations in big cities around the globe Monday, part of a wide-ranging series of protests demanding much more urgent action against climate change._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 9, 2019 3:09 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 9, 2019 3:09 PM UTC Jokes have certainly been made about how many police officers it takes to change a [lightbulb](http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment/article/0,28804,1602354%5F1603074%5F1603095,00.html), but what about how many it takes to escort an [“octopus?”](https://time.com/5657927/farm-raised-octopus/) In a video shared by [Channel 4 News producer Liam O’Hare](https://twitter.com/Liam%5FO%5FHare) on Twitter on Wednesday, police can be seen corralling a massive pink inflatable octopus as activists tow it through the streets of London during the third day of climate change protests by the [Extinction Rebellion movement](https://time.com/5694636/climate-activists-worldwide-protests/). “Police have kettled a giant octopus on Whitehall and are marching it back to Trafalgar Square,” O’Hare captioned the now-viral clip, which has been watched over 740,000 times as of Wednesday morning. O’Hare later added that once the octopus was securely back in Trafalgar, police were apparently working to prevent it from once again leaving the square. “Update: I have now located octopus safe and well at Trafalger Square,” he tweeted. “But protesters tell me police have put it under a section 14 order – anyone caught helping it to continue its journey will be arrested.” > [](https://twitter.com/Liam%5FO%5FHare/status/1181855978406457345) > [](https://twitter.com/Liam%5FO%5FHare/status/1181876552784646145) Of course, some on the internet couldn’t resist a little octopus-related humor in light of the situation. “The suspect was heavily armed,” quipped one Twitter user in response to the video. > [](https://twitter.com/matthewchampion/status/1181865222203682816) See some of the best reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/mart2362/status/1181867564458221568) > [](https://twitter.com/Soundbuy/status/1181860808927711233) > [](https://twitter.com/DadontheEdge/status/1181864121446342656) > [](https://twitter.com/markjholliday/status/1181868108291727360) > [](https://twitter.com/SalmannKhurram/status/1181871299301429255) > [](https://twitter.com/AndyGrays0n/status/1181884726493286402) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/"},"headline":"This Is Exactly How Many Police It Takes to Escort a Massive Inflatable Pink 'Octopus'","datePublished":"2019-10-09T15:09:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:03.098Z","description":"\"The suspect was heavily armed\"","url":"https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Bizarre","london","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/","name":"This Is Exactly How Many Police It Takes to Escort a Massive Inflatable Pink 'Octopus'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Extinction Rebellion Climate Activists Block Roads, Stage Protests Worldwide","description":"Activists with the Extinction Rebellion movement blocked roads and staged demonstrations in big cities around the globe Monday, part of a wide-ranging series of protests demanding much more urgent action against climate change.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Pboha5Du/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-10-07T22:08:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pboha5Du.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/","duration":"PT1M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5696047/police-escort-pink-octopus/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```