Climate activist arrested as protest group closes M25

AN ENVIRONMENTAL activist was arrested yesterday after specialist police officers mounted motorway signs on the M25 on the first of three days of planned protests.

Three lanes of traffic were blocked early yesterday morning after five demonstrators from the group Just Stop Oil scaled gantries, causing police to close sections of the road.

The road was reopened by yesterday afternoon after Surrey Police brought in a specialist team trained at dealing with incidents at height to remove a protester.

The woman, 22, was arrested on suspicion of causing a danger to road users, causing a public nuisance, and for being a pedestrian on the motorway.

Activists from Just Stop Oil warned drivers they would be returning to the M25 until the end of the week as they called for an immediate halt to new oil and gas projects in the UK.

In a statement the group said: “We fully acknowledge the cost and disruption this will cause to the public and ask that they take their demands for compensation to the government which has caused this unprecedented threat to our lives and liberties.”

It said it plans to hold further actions against oil infrastructure along with trade unions and other green groups in the coming months and will hold a protest in Westminster on Saturday.

A spokesperson said the M25 had been chosen because it “has a kind of iconic status as the motorway from hell, doesn’t it? So it’s a reference to that”.

They said the M25 was “the place where we confront the carbon economy headlong and bring our resistance into full public view”.

Drivers vented their frustration on social media, with one claiming they had been stopped from reaching their father in hospital.

Surrey Police said: “Officers were called just after 7am this morning following reports of a protest on the M25 just past junction 10 of the anticlockwise carriageway.

It added: “Three lanes needed to be closed while we worked to safely remove the woman, which involved a specialist team trained in dealing with incidents at height. A 22-year-old woman from London has been arrested on suspicion of causing a danger to road users, causing a public nuisance, and for being a pedestrian on the motorway.

“We appreciate this caused significant disruption this morning and want to thank drivers for their patience while we dealt with the incident.”

The force said it would work to “minimise disruption as quickly as possible”.