Insulate Britain protesters arrested after shutting down central London

Protesters from Insulate Britain have blocked a junction of the M25 motorway and a major road in central London.

The climate activists said about 40 demonstrators are sitting on the road at junction 25 of the M25 at Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and on the A501 at Old Street roundabout.

The protests caused long queues of rush hour traffic on Friday morning.

Officers then drag some of the activists off the road.

The Metropolitan Police said: “Arrests have been made at the M25 protest. Four people have been glued to the road, they’re being removed.

“Officers have opened up the slip-road to the A10.

“Activists at Old Street, Islington, continue to block the road where a number of people are also glued to the surface.

“This is causing an unreasonable disruption to the community. Specialist teams are on-scene and working to remove those protesting.”

It is the 12th day in the past four weeks that the group has carried out protests on roads.

Insulate Britain admitted its actions on the M25 are “in breach” of an injunction obtained by the Government last month.

Tracey Mallagan, a spokeswoman for the group, 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.

“The Government won’t be wondering if there are enough hospital beds or ventilators, but whether there are enough people left to bury the dead.

“The Government is destroying our country. Boris Johnson should be taken to court for treason. Our flesh and blood are being tossed aside as expendable.”

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.”