EXTINCTION Rebellion (known as XR) is being investigated by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the group said today.

XR’s New York section said at least seven of its activists have been visited by FBI agents since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term.

The group said two special agents from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force visited one of its activists at their home on February 6.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) also reportedly opened an investigation into another activist group, Climate Defiance, earlier this month in response to what XR said was a “viral peaceful protest.”

The clampdown on activists groups comes as President Trump begins to roll back environmental protections across the US.

In a statement XR New York said: “Trump is weaponising the DOJ to attack peaceful protesters in order to appease a multi-trillion-dollar fossil fuel industry that got him elected.

“We can only assume that they are feeling threatened by our movement.”

XR has received worldwide media attention through its tactics of disrupting roads, airports and other public transport networks with direct action protests against climate change in major cities.

According to the natural resource monitoring group Global Witness, fossil fuel companies, including Chevron and Exxon, donated $19 million (around £14m) to Mr Trump’s inaugural fund last year.

A number of fossil fuel companies also donated to his re-election campaign.

The president has labelled climate change a “hoax” and a “con job.” He revoked an important 2009 government declaration last week which has been used as the legal basis for regulating pollution under the US Clean Air Act, originally adopted in 1963.

Mr Trump’s decision to revoke the declaration that greenhouse gases are a risk to public health and environmental safety prompted a dozen health and environmental groups to file a lawsuit against the US Environmental Agency on Wednesday.