Call that policing?
M25 chaos activists are given soft touch
POLICE sparked fury yesterday after asking eco-protesters causing chaos on Britain’s busiest motorway if they needed help – instead of arresting them.
As they brought morning rush-hour mayhem to the M25 for the second time in three days, climate change activists were asked if they ‘were in discomfort or needed anything’.
Some 89 members of new group Insulate Britain blocked lanes at four points around the orbital motorway by sitting down on the road, some gluing their hands to the tarmac. As frustrated motorists screamed at activists, police were caught on film standing with their hands in their pockets and politely asking activists if they ‘needed assistance’.
Meanwhile, a crash involving several vehicles near one of the M25 protest sites led to a woman in her 50s being airlifted to hospital – amid claims the demonstration may have caused the accident. At one of the protest sites – junction 23 of near South Mimms, Hertfordshire – police arrived just after 8am but their first reaction was to placate the eco-warriors.
One policeman told the protesters: ‘Each individual officer will come and speak to you. We’ll try and sort you out in a nice way.’ A cafe owner begged an officer: ‘Can you just not get ’em off?’
Police made a total of 18 arrests as they finally cleared the motorway by 11.30am. Conservative MP Philip Davies said: ‘For some reason, the police seem to pussyfoot around when it is a bunch of anarchist, anti-capitalist eco-extremists. They should be forcibly removed.’
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Noble, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: ‘I would ask the public to please let the police deal with those protesting.’