Carry on protesting
M25 activists all released – despite their vow to block roads again
POLICE have let the eco-protesters who caused chaos on Britain’s busiest motorway walk free with no bail conditions – despite them vowing to return to the road ‘at the earliest opportunity’.
Some 89 members of the new Insulate Britain group were detained for bringing rush-hour mayhem to the M25 on Wednesday morning.
But they claim just 12 were given warnings not to go back – sparking fears they will halt traffic for a third time today. The activists also revealed that every protester who was arrested during a protest on Monday returned two days later, despite five of them being told not to.
They have vowed to continue to block commuters until Boris Johnson agrees with their ‘demands’ to improve the insulation of British homes.
Conservative MP Ian Liddell Grainger last night called on the ‘arrogant and stuck-up’ troublemakers to get hit with ‘much tougher sentences’, adding: ‘They should have a criminal record.
‘Their whole plan, of sowing chaos to our lives in this way, just won’t fly with the British public because they don’t kowtow to bullies.’
Fellow Tory Craig Mackinlay said: ‘There are always tools and mechanisms available to the police to deal with this. It is a pretty simple matter and I am deeply disappointed in the police for freeing them to go and do this again.’
Insulate Britain gloated about its stunt yesterday with a post titled: ‘We told the police we would go back to the M25.’ It claimed every activist ‘told the police they would repeat the protest as soon as possible’, but despite this all 89 were released.
A spokesman added: ‘Before being released from custody, the campaigners handed the police a clear personal statement of their intent to continue taking action until the Government agrees to their demands.
‘They were told by police that the statements would be held “on their files”.’
The statement said: ‘I must be clear that if I am released from this police station, I intend to return to sit on a highway at the earliest opportunity and will repeat this until our Government agrees to our demands.’
It heaped more pressure on Home Secretary Priti Patel, who came under fire over the police response to the protests. Insulate
Britain blocked four points of the M25 and one of the A3 at 8am on Wednesday, and the roads were not cleared until 11.30am.
The Met took more than three hours to clear activists from Junction 25 of the M25 near Waltham Cross on Wednesday, as did Kent Police with a group on Junction 1a and 1b near Dartford, and Hertfordshire Police at Junction 23.
Officers were seen asking pro
‘I intend to return to sit on a highway’
testers if they ‘were in discomfort or needed anything’ as they glued themselves to the road and refused to budge.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace yesterday called on officers to act ‘more swiftly’.
He said: ‘Many people who are paid by the hour and don’t have sympathetic bosses.
Hertfordshire Police said its officers were not handed a letter but they ‘were aware of their intention to continue with their protests’. Kent Police said they arrested 21 protesters who had since been released ‘while an appropriate course of action is determined’.