A tearful Just Stop Oil protester who climbed a gantry on the M25 amid multiple protests that caused traffic chaos on Monday said commuters will “hate her”.
Louise, 24, was among at least 23 protesters who scaled gantries at a number of junctions in London, Surrey, Essex and Kent around 7.30am causing parts of the M25 to close temporarily and a backlog of traffic.
Angry drivers were stuck in their cars for hours, with many complaining that their journey time had doubled.
“You might hate me for doing this,” she said as she held back tears in a video posted to Twitter.
“You’re entitled to hate me. But I wish you would direct all that anger and hatred to our Government.
“Why does it take young people like me, up on a f***ing gantry on the M25 for you to listen?”
🦺 Louise, 24: “I'm here because I don't have a future. You might hate me for doing this, but I wish you would direct all that anger and hatred at our Government. They are betraying young people like me — I wouldn't have to be here if they did their duty.”#FreeLouis #FreeJosh pic.twitter.com/iRfUqUuRRc
— Just Stop Oil ⚖️💀🛢 (@JustStop_Oil) November 7, 2022
Police were alerted to protesters at Junctions 25, 26 in London, Junctions 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 in Surrey and Junction 30 in Essex.
Twenty-three protesters were removed by specialist teams and arrested for public nuisance, Metropolitan Police said.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the action was “criminality”, not protest, and pledged to bring those involved to justice as quickly as possible.
He told journalists on Monday: “This was a very significant and co-ordinated effort to cause massive disruption to the entirety of the M25.”
Superintendent Graham Barnett from Surrey Police said: “While we always seek to facilitate peaceful protests, the protests we’ve seen today have gone beyond that.
“Whilst they’ve been peaceful, the impact that they’ve had has not been proportionate on the public.
“And we’ve seen some significant tailbacks across Surrey and indeed around the M25, which have impacted on people’s ability to go about their their normal day to day lives.
“That’s unacceptable.”
Police believe that some of those involved in the demonstrations could have breached a High Court injunction obtained by the Highways Agency.
Hertfordshire Police said five people were arrested after climbing gantries at Junction 22, in Colney, and Junction 23, in South Mimms. Three protesters were arrested Essex and are in custody and five were arrested in Surrey. One person was arrested at Junction 25 in London.
Since the start of October Metropolitan Police have used more than 10,000 officer shifts to police Just Stop Oil protests.
Indigo Rumblelow, 28, a spokesperson for Just Stop Oil from London said: “This government is complicit in an illegal and unconstitutional plan to issue more licenses and consents for new oil and gas.
“Our latest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak talks of the importance of ending our dependency on fossil fuels yet he is still planning to allow new fossil fuel projects. This is a failure of politics.”
Business Secretary and former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Monday’s protest is “completely outrageous”.
“It’s completely wrong to disrupt people’s lives in this way,” he told LBC. “I hope that justice is served up to these people.”
On Sunday evening, Just Stop Oil warned the Metropolitan Police and National Highways of planned major disruption on the M25.
The group claims the stunt is part of its ongoing campaign calling on the Government to halt all new oil and gas licences and consents.
Metropolitan Police said four people were arrested for conspiracy to cause public nuisance at an address in south London.
Monday’s action follows four weeks of continuous protests by supporters of Just Stop Oil, during which the police have made 678 arrests.
