Norway's Coast Guard has seized Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise and arrested 35 members of its crew after protesters violated the safety zone around a drilling rig in the Barents Sea, online newspaper The Independent Barents Observer reported Friday.

Protesting the drilling at the Korpfjell field on Thursday, Greenpeace activists entered the 500-meter safety zone around the rig Songa Enabler with kayaks and a floating globe with signatures from people all over the world demanding an end to the ongoing drilling.

Korpfjell field is the northernmost oil-drilling area ever set up in the Barents Sea, located at 74 degrees north, some 415 km from mainland Norway, the report said.

The police ordered the protesters to leave the security zone, saying Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil had permission to drill in the area and the protest activities violated the Petroleum Act.

When Greenpeace refused to leave, the police requested the Coast Guard to take action. Shortly afterwards, crew members from the Coast Guard boarded Greenpeace's vessel the Arctic Sunrise, arrested its crew, and took control of the ship.

The Arctic Sunrise is expected to be at Tromso port late Friday evening or early Saturday morning.

Truls Gulowsen, head of Greenpeace Norway, disputed the Coast Guard's right to board the ship and order it to be removed, and urged Norwegian authorities to be more worried about climate change.

"The Norwegian coast guard doesn't have the right to board or remove our ship. Protest at sea is an internationally recognized lawful use of the sea, related to the freedom of navigation," he said.

"The Norwegian government seems more interested in protecting the reckless Arctic oil drilling operation carried out by state-owned Statoil, than listening to the concerns voiced by people from all over the world and protecting the right to protest against the opening of a new, aggressive oil frontier in the Arctic," Gulowsen said.

"This is a violation of Norway's duty under its own Constitution and its commitments under the Paris Agreement," he added.

This is not the first time the Arctic Sunrise has been boarded and arrested for protesting oil drilling in the Arctic area. In September 2013, the Russian Coast Guard boarded and took over the vessel after activists tried to board a Russian oil platform in the Pechora Sea, the southeastern part of the Barents Sea.