Police raid eco-protest leaders ... but can’t stop chaos on M25
CLIMATE activists shut the M25 yesterday after police failed to stop them with raids on the ringleaders.
Protesters were accused of “laughing at the law” as they defied High Court injunctions which sought to prevent disruption to the orbital motorway.
Rush-hour traffic was brought to a halt as more than a dozen people climbed on to overhead gantries at seven junctions. Louise Harris filmed herself scaling a gantry and telling drivers: “You may hate me for doing this and you’re entitled to hate me.
“But I wish you would direct all that anger and hatred at our Government. They are betraying young people.”
Louise, 24, and fellow protesters stopped traffic in Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire and London. Specialist police in climbing gear removed activists and 23 arrests were made.
The Met had targeted ringleaders of the well-advertised protests in a series of raids on Sunday, when three people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
The preventative operation was mounted after national newspaper reporters infiltrated a meeting of Just Stop Oil last week and passed details to Scotland Yard.
Campaigners were told that it would be easy for them to close the M25 by scaling the gantries. One woman said: “There are hundreds and hundreds. It’s impossible to police.” The evidence was used by National Highways lawyers to obtain the emergency injunctions.
Tailbacks
Met Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist called yesterday’s disruption “criminality” rather than protest, and he promised to bring those involved to justice as quickly as possible.
Supt Graham Barnett, of Surrey Police, said: “While we always seek to facilitate peaceful protests, the protests we’ve seen today have gone beyond that.
“Whilst they’ve been peaceful, the impact that they’ve had has not been proportionate on the public. And we’ve seen some significant tailbacks across Surrey and indeed around the M25, which have impacted on people’s ability to go about their normal day-to-day lives.
“That’s unacceptable.”
Last month Met Police used up 10,000 officer shifts policing protests by Just Stop Oil.
As the campaigners threatened further disruption “every day” until fossil fuel exploration is stopped, some motorists hit out online.
One said: “Police and the courts seem unable to stop these people. They are laughing at the law.”