A Just Stop Oil supporter from Swansea who climbed over an M25 gantry has appeared before a Brighton court and remanded in custody.
Tez Burns, 34, a bicycle mechanic from Beaufort Court, Swansea, was arrested on Thursday on what was the fourth day of action by the protesters. Activists climbed a gantry at Junction 8 of the UK’s busiest motorway on Thursday morning. Officers from Surrey Police were called to the scene and the road was closed in both directions while they climbed the gantry.
Meanwhile Essex Police said they arrested a woman attempting to climb a gantry around 1.5 miles from Junction 28 clockwise.
Burns, who is identified using they/them pronouns, will remain in custody for over a month until their next hearing in mid-December. They were one of six people who appeared before Brighton Magistrates' Court on Friday after being charged with public nuisance. A further five people were charged with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
Burns has a history of activism. Earlier this year they were jailed for actions under the Just Stop Oil banner. They said: "We need an emergency response to the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis right now – insulate our homes, nationalise and subsidise public transport, invest in renewable energy. Stop paying us lip service and do something meaningful: stop issuing new fossil fuel licenses now."
Just Stop Oil is demanding that the government stops all new UK oil and gas projects. Around 50 Just Stop Oil supporters in total have climbed onto the overhead gantries of the M25 from Monday to Thursday this week, causing chaos and forcing police to close large sections of the motorway.
Activists came under heavy criticism for causing so much disruption to normal peoples' lives and even forced one man to miss his father's funeral.
Since the campaign began on April 1, Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested over 2,000 times, with around 30 supporters currently in prison, the organisation said. It added it will "continue until the UK government changes course". It added: "We are serious. We have never been more serious. Our families, communities, our country and civilisation are on the cliff edge of destruction. We will not die silently and neither will the people, like you, your friends, neighbours and colleagues who know what has to be done."
On Friday morning, Just Stop Oil announced it had paused its campaign of civil resistance to give "time to those in Government who are in touch with reality to consider their responsibilities to this country at this time".
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