LONDON — A bearded man wearing a suit walks on the roof of a London Underground train as a crowd of clearly infuriated commuters yell and point at him.

A few seconds later, another man leaps up and grabs his legs as the protester tries to kick him off. They both fall, and the protester is buried among the angry mob, who seem to attack him on the floor.

Video of Thursday morning’s episode in eastern London, which was circulated widely, illustrated the complicated passions that have been ignited by protests in the British capital by Extinction Rebellion, a group of environmental activists who employ radical disruptive tactics to draw attention to the climate crisis.

Commuters haul Extinction Rebellion protester from the roof of a tube train at Canning Town station. Video credit: @mahatir_pasha https://t.co/CwKFX0g5W4 pic.twitter.com/j0cXguhV4P

A total of eight activists were arrested on suspicion of obstructing trains, the British transport police said on Thursday. The actions suspended some lines, creating significant delays in the transport system.

Extinction Rebellion has been holding protests in London for about two weeks. Three days ago, the police banned the group’s actions in the center of the city.

In other protests, an activist was chased by a commuter on top of a train in Canning Town, in eastern London, while some demonstrators glued themselves to a train in Shadwell station, also in the east of the capital.

Sean O’Callaghan, the assistant chief constable of the British Transport Police, called the behavior of passengers in Canning Town was “unacceptable,” saying that it was “concerning to see that a number of commuters took matters into their own hands, displaying violent behavior to detain a protester.”

Mayor Sadiq Khan of London said on Thursday that the activists’ protests were “illegal,” “extremely dangerous” and “counterproductive.”

But Extinction Rebellion said in a statement that the act was “borne of necessity in the face of an impending disaster.”

“This is disruption with a purpose since we will all encounter far greater disruption in the future if we don’t radically change our society,” Valerie Milner-Brown, a spokeswoman for the group, said in the statement.

“We can already see the horrifying early effects of the climate and ecological emergency in parts of the Global South, and it’s clear that this will be coming our way soon,” she added.

The group said that they had taken measures to minimize the risk to commuters trapped in the subway and that the police had been informed about the protests in advance, adding that the actions were part of “an ongoing campaign intended to increase pressure upon the government.”

Disruption lies at the heart of the group’s tactics, and affiliated activists are urged to seek to get arrested. For maximum disruption, the movement’s actions are focused on capital cities.

In the past two weeks, Extinction Rebellion action has shut down roads and bridges around Parliament in London. Last week, James Brown, a British Paralympic medalist, protested by climbing on top of a British Airways plane at London City Airport.

Farther afield, the group has blocked roadways in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and staged a “funeral march” from Battery Park to Washington Square Park in Manhattan, among other actions.

More than 1,400 Extinction Rebellion activists had been arrested in London before Tuesday, when the Metropolitan Police announced a ban on further protests in the center of the capital, threatening those who defied the order with arrest.

“After nine days of disruption, we felt it is entirely proportionate and reasonable to impose this condition because of the cumulative impact of these protests,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said in a statement.

But he clarified that the order did not mean that all protests were banned in London. “The condition applies specifically to the Extinction Rebellion ‘Autumn Uprising,’” he said.

The young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg criticized the police ban, while the group’s activists ignored it and gathered by the thousands in Trafalgar Square.

A judicial review of the ban is underway, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

Extinction Rebellion attracted criticism on social media after the group compared its noncompliance with the police ban to the actions of the American civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

One user called Mal Jutley suggested in a Twitter post on Thursday that the movement had lost support from Londoners because of the disruptive action on the London Underground.

He said the delays were “a nightmare” for people just trying to go to work, adding, “the Rosa Parks comparison … really??”

Another Twitter user, Daniel John Connaughton Hillier, wrote in a post that “Comparing the Extinction protests to Rosa Parks discredits the cause and is insulting.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain has called the climate activists “uncooperative crusties and protesters littering the road.”

But Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said in an interview on Tuesday that he backed the group.

“I support what they’ve done because they’ve actually woken people up,” Mr. Corbyn told Novara Media, an online news outlet.

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