More than 100 protesters from the pressure group Stop Climate Chaos Leeds stopped in their tracks at 6pm and remain virtually motionless for five minutes.

The publicity stunt was officially called 'The Great Unfreeze' and was meant to highlight the need to tackle climate change. It took place on Briggate, outside the Victoria Quarter and left ordinary shoppers completely bemused.

People appeared frozen to the spot. The atmosphere was further intensified as an eerie calm descended upon Briggate.

Some protesters stuck in walking positions, others appeared to be taking pictures, or talking on their phones. One group even staged a mock crash between two bicycles.

For a moment it appeared as though the whole of Briggate had been frozen in time.

But then ordinary people going about their business could be spotted picking their way tentatively between the 'freezers'. Most were completely bamboozled by the goings on.

One woman, talking on her mobile phone, wandered into the middle of a group of motionless people and only then realised no-one around her was moving.

Her face went through a series of expressions: of surprise, confusion, then intrigue and fascination as she realised there were more people frozen to the spot. In the end, she walked up to several people and took pictures of them on her phone.

After five minutes of 'freezing', the protesters simple carried on whatever they had been doing before. A rapturous round of applause broke out in the moments immediately after, either from members of the public or protesters themselves.

Matt Carmichael, chair of Stop Climate Chaos Leeds, said afterwards: "It went very well. I am very pleased with it. People didn't know what to make of it at first."

The protest had been due to take part in two locations - the other being Leeds train station - but officials pulled the plug at the last minute after the YEP broke the story last week.