Britain’s National Highways has secured a High Court injunction to prevent climate protesters disrupting England’s busiest motorway.
Climate group Just Stop Oil, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, has been staging disruptive protests in an attempt to highlight its call for the UK government to begin the process of winding down fossil fuel production in the country.
Transport secretary Mark Harper said he had instructed National Highways to apply for the injunction to tackle a “reckless minority of protesters.”
The injunction is aimed at ending disruption by the environmental group on the M25, a busy motorway which encircles Greater London.
It means that anyone entering the motorway and fixing themselves to any object or structure on it, and anyone assisting in such an act, can be held in contempt of court and subjected to imprisonment, an unlimited fine, and the seizure of assets.
‘Extremely Dangerous’
In a statement, Harper said that blocking busy motorways or climbing overhead structures is “extremely dangerous and disruptive.”He said the new injunction “will make it easier to take action against this reckless minority of protesters.”
Duncan Smith, executive director for operations at National Highways, added: “Millions of people rely on the strategic road network every day and they have a right to expect it to operate as it should.
Disruptions
Just Stop Oil began blockading fuel terminals across the country on April 1, leading to more than 1,000 arrests.The group was also filmed blockading petrol stations and damaging petrol pumps. On Aug. 26, Just Stop Oil stated on Twitter that they “decommissioned pumps at 7 stations in central London.”
Since the beginning of October, the group has caused disruptions in central London by blocking key roads, including The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace.
On Oct. 26, activists from the group sprayed orange paint onto Ferrari and Bentley car showrooms in Mayfair and set up a roadblock in Piccadilly.
On Oct. 28, two members were arrested after they sprayed paint on the Rolex jewellery shop in Knightsbridge in central London.
Members of the group have also splashed tinned soup onto artworks and thrown a cake on a waxwork of King Charles at Madame Tussauds.
