Insulate Britain protesters block two roads around Parliament Square

Insulate Britain have blocked two roads around Parliament Square in London, with supporters of the group sitting in the carriageway and holding banners.

The group said 62 members sat on the ground while holding Insulate Britain banners on the south east of Parliament Square, on Bridge Street, and at the Peers’ entrance to the Houses of Parliament.

Paul Sheeky, a protester from London, was glued to the pavement during the protests.

He told the PA news agency: “We have been out on the road now for several weeks and a lot of the time the drivers say to us ‘this is not the right way to be doing this, go to Parliament, protest there’.

“We thought we would take that advice and give it a go. We know from protesting in Parliament in the past it doesn’t work, which is why we have to protest on the roads, but we thought we would come here all together as a show of unity just to say, yes we are going to keep going.”

He added: “This is fine compared to what is coming from the climate crisis, this is a walk in the park essentially.

“The death and destruction that is on its way unless we tackle this issue is just beyond imagining. A slight discomfort now is a small price to pay for saving lives in the future.”

She said police communicating with the protesters had been “very civil and polite”.

Peter Anthony-Gord, a bus driver with Abellio London Bus, criticised the group’s action.

He told PA: “I don’t think they are doing this properly. I really think there is a better way to do this. There are ways of insulating Britain which you can do with other sources, other people, companies, private finance etc rather than causing absolute chaos in London. This is not going to insulate one home sitting here.”

Mr Anthony-Gord said he had been waiting in his bus at the head of the queuing traffic on Parliament Square for 34 minutes, and would usually be driving a route towards Crystal Palace over Lambeth Bridge.

Rachel Speller, a bus driver’s wife, had walked to the front of the traffic to see what had happened after sitting on a bus with her husband, the driver, in the tailback along Whitehall.

She said: “It is just getting ridiculous now. Every other week there is some sort of protest and now they glue themselves to the floor.”

Earlier in the morning, the group published a statement reflecting on its campaign.

It said: “Insulate Britain has been one of the most successful campaigns in history. Our name recognition went from zero to 77% of the public in three weeks, we have attracted enormous media interest and we have started thousands of conversations, in the press, on social media and in homes up and down the country.

“Importantly, we have exposed the Government’s refusal to act on home insulation as cowardly and vindictive and their refusal to protect our country and our children from the climate crisis as genocidal and treasonous.”

Around 60 demonstrators descended on junction 23 of the M25 near London, junction 6 of the M56 in Manchester and the A4400 in Birmingham.

So far, 161 people have been involved in the roadblock campaign and there have been more than 800 arrests.

Nine members of the group are due to appear at the High Court on November 16 after breaching a National Highways injunction.