Patel seeks injunction to lock protesters up
Police not allowed to hold Insulate Britain for M25 obstruction but they could for contempt of court
‘Storming live lanes is suicidal. These people have a death wish and could cause multiple pile-ups and fatalities’
PRITI PATEL is to seek an injunction to enable police to lock up the M25 ecoprotesters, as they changed tactics yesterday and ran in front of moving vehicles on the main carriageway.
The Home Secretary and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps have ordered National Highways to apply for a court order against Insulate Britain after five days of protests have blocked the M25. Any breach of the injunction holds a maximum jail sentence of two years, a serious enough offence for police to be able to hold protesters in custody and stop them causing further disruption.
Yesterday the group started running into moving traffic at junctions 9 and 10, prompting police and the AA to warn they could cause “multiple fatalities”.
Officers pulled them out of the road to avoid collisions. It was the fifth protest on the M25 in eight days with many activists returning just hours after being arrested and released by police.
A senior Government source said: “Priti and Grant are furious that the lives of the law-abiding majority are continuing to be disrupted by the actions of an extreme minority.
“They 100 per cent back National Highways to take legal action against these individuals to ensure those who the police arrest are not released on bail and able to return to disrupting and endangering people’s lives in this way.”
The agency’s lawyers will seek an immediate interim injunction, pending a full hearing later this week, on the basis that the protesters’ actions are unlawful and pose a serious threat to other road users’ safety.
Police have been stymied from remanding them in custody because obstruction of the highway and public order offences for which they have been arrested have left them with no option but to release them. Contempt of court would be sufficient to merit remanding them in custody.
It would enable the police to issue cost orders to compensate for the disruption caused, hitting protesters financially. Previously, however, Extinction Rebellion activists have had convictions quashed and charges thrown out.
Drivers were forced to brake and stop on the 70mph motorway after the group ran onto both carriageways.
One ringleader, Zoe Cohen, compared the demonstrations to those of the Suffragettes whose Emily Davison was killed when she ran in front of the king’s horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby.
Chf Supt Jerry Westerman of Surrey Police said: “This action is putting people’s lives at risk and is dangerous. That was very apparent today.” Edmund King, AA president, said: “Protesters storming live lanes are suicidal. It appears that some of these people have a death wish. Their actions not only put themselves at risk but also threaten to cause multiple pile-ups and fatalities.”
The protest, which resulted in 38 arrests, was carried out by volunteers that Insulate Britain claims to have recruited since its first stunt last week when they brought traffic to a standstill at junctions and caused hours of delays.
Dr Bing Jones of Insulate Britain from Sheffield protested on the M25 on Monday and has been arrested four times in the past eight days. He said: “I put my life at risk. I don’t really accept that we have put other lives at risk.
“There are traffic jams continually, accidents happen daily, there are roadblocks for roadworks. The traffic increases and decreases in speed.”