Insulate Britain blocks junction on M25 and major London road

Protesters from Insulate Britain blocked a junction of the M25 motorway and a major central London road on Friday morning.

The climate activists said about 40 demonstrators were involved in its 12th day of protests in the past four weeks.

They sat on the road at junction 25 of the M25 at Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and on the A501 at Old Street roundabout, causing long queues of rush hour traffic.

The Metropolitan Police said it arrested 16 people at the motorway protest, and 19 at Old Street roundabout.

All were detained on suspicion of obstructing the highway.

Shortly after the protests began at around 8.30am, the Metropolitan Police wrote on Twitter: “We know that some activists have used super glue to frustrate our efforts and to delay Londoners even further.

“We train for these scenarios and have specialist teams on hand to help remove people and make arrests.”

The M25 was cleared at around 9.30am, but it took around three hours for the central London road to be cleared.

People who break injunctions can be found to be in contempt of court, but prosecutions usually take several months, meaning there is no immediate impact on the protests.

Tracey Mallagan, a spokeswoman for Insulate Britain, which is calling on the Government to insulate all UK homes by 2030 to cut carbon emissions, said: “If governments don’t act soon to reduce emissions, we face a terrifying situation.

“We won’t be worrying about shortages of pasta or loo rolls because law and order breaks down pretty quickly when there is not enough food to go round.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps branded members of Insulate Britain “glued fools”.

He told LBC: “It’s dangerous, it’s really outrageous, and actually, ironically, it probably adds to pollution as cars idle, waiting for their nonsense … for them to be unglued from the road.

“Existing laws need toughening up to get these glued fools off the road, and the Home Secretary has said she will do that in the Crime and Sentencing Policing Bill that is going through Parliament.

“In the meantime, I have been applying actively for court injunctions, which cover the national highway network around London, around the South East. Now these people can go to jail for what they’re doing.

“I very much imagine that the courts will take very dimly of the view that they’re ignoring a court injunction. It can be unlimited fines, it can be six months in jail. We have been actively serving door-to-door individuals – over 100 have been served.

“And I think we’ll start to see the courts take a very, very dim view and lock some of these people up, it is unacceptable.

“I can tell you that those injunctions may well have been breached and people may be going to prison as a result.”