Two men scaled the 52-story New York Times building in Manhattan Thursday in separate stunts that drew amused and tensed onlookers on the streets plus police and rescuers.

Alain Robert, a 45-year-old skyscraper climber nicknamed the French Spiderman, first scaled the tower by holding and stepping on slats that cover the building's façade. When he reached the top, he made a personal statement to mark the World Environment Day by unfurling a banner with the words "Global warming kills more people than a 9/11 every week."

Police waiting at the rooftop then arrested Robert for reckless endangerment, making graffiti, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Spectators on the street fronting the Port Authority bus terminal gathered again hours later to watch Renaldo Clarke, 32, imitate Robert's act.

The IT worker from Brooklyn climbed on the other side of the building from where Robert climbed earlier.

Clarke did not deliver any personal statement upon reaching the top about 6:38 p.m. He was promptly arrested by police and taken to a nearby hospital for psychiatric evaluation.