Some 250 demonstrators are reported to have been arrested following some of the most intense protesting since the United Nations Climate Change Conference began more than a week ago in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here’s what our own Sara Peach reported today for Grist.

Youth activists were beaten by police this morning in Copenhagen after they marched out of the Bella Center, shouting “Reclaim power!” and “Climate justice now!”

During the second week of the COP15 talks in Copenhagen, the number of activists allowed to attend the talks has been drastically reduced. By Friday, when President Obama arrives, the number of nongovernmental “observers,” the UN group to which most of the activists belong, will be reduced to just 90.

A mix of frustrated indigenous, youth, and environmental activists walked out of the talks this morning at about 11 a.m. local time. Once outside, the marchers attempted to join a second group of activists organized by the anti-corporate network Climate Justice Action. But before the two groups could join, they met a line of police.

The activists and the police shoved back and forth, and the police beat them with batons. The marchers said throughout the action that they had remained peaceful.

Follow Sara at Grist or peachreport.com