Just Stop Oil protestors BLOCK M25 and tell drivers to avoid the motorway ALL WEEK

Just Stop Oil protestors BLOCK the M25 and promise to disrupt the motorway ALL WEEK because it is ‘a site of civil resistance’ as they predict record temperatures mean ‘society will collapse within 20 years’

  • Just Stop Oil has said it is declaring the motorway ‘a site of civil resistance’
  • Group has asked that ‘no one travels on motorway from Wednesday to Friday’
  • Around nine miles of traffic has built up along the M25 anti-clockwise in Surrey
  • Two of the  protestors say they have tied a banner to gantry over the motorway
  • Do you know the two protestors? Email [email protected] 

Just Stop Oil protestors have closed three lanes of the M25 and have promised to disrupt the motorway all week as they predict record temperatures mean ‘society will collapse in 20 years’.

Around nine miles of traffic has built up along the M25 between Cobham and Guildford after the activists began their protest shortly after 8am, causing delays stretching back to Heathrow Airport.

In a statement released today, Just Stop Oil said it was ‘declaring the M25 a site of civil resistance’ and asked that ‘no one travels on this motorway from Wednesday to Friday this week as we will be blocking the highway’.

It added: ‘We fully acknowledge the cost and disruption this will cause to the public and ask that they take their demands for compensation to the government which has caused this unprecedented threat to our lives and liberties.’

And at the site today, two of the protestors said: ‘We are currently on a gantry above the M25. It is very loud up here and very windy. We have dropped a banner over the edge, securely tied, that says Just Stop Oil because that is what our government must do. 

‘It must stop new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea. We are risking our civil liberty being up here, we do not want to be up here, but we feel it is what we must do.’

Highways England tweeted: ‘3 lanes (of 4) are now closed on the M25 anti-clockwise in Surrey within J10 (A3 for Guildford) due to an ongoing Surrey Police led incident. 

‘This incident is likely to be ongoing for some time. There’s now over a 60 minute delay on approach with 9 miles of congestion.’  

A Just Stop Oil banner hanging over the M25 anticlockwise in Surrey during the protest this morning

The latest demonstrations have been brought on following a heatwave that saw the UK record its hottest ever day on Tuesday.

Temperatures hit an unprecedented 40.3C (104.54) in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, yesterday beating records.

A Just Oil spokesperson added: ‘The main thing is, we’ve just seen 40-degree temperatures, which have been predicted for decades, maybe it’s happening a bit faster, but it has just revealed how inadequate the Government’s preparations for climate change are and their entire policy, and basically, we’re just saying, it’s evident now we cannot continue.’

The group demands the government make a ‘meaningful statement’ that they will commit to stop licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK, which they say is ‘the necessary first step to ensuring a liveable future’.

Just Stop Oil will march and take part in a sit down protest in Westminster on Saturday ‘with thousands of ordinary people’ to create ‘mass civil resistance’.

Today’s protest comes two week after activists from the same group glued themselves to the frame of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Protesters from Just Stop Oil glue their hands to the frame of a copy of The Last Supper at the Royal Academy in London today

Protesters from Just Stop Oil glue their hands to the frame of a copy of The Last Supper at the Royal Academy in London today

Extinction Rebellion co-founder Simon Bramwell was among those involved on July 5, along with fellow XR activist Caspar Hughes. 

Just Stop Oil also named three of the protesters as Jessica Agar, 21, an art student from Hereford; Tristan Strange, 40, a community organiser from Swindon; and Lucy Porter, 47, a former teacher from Leeds.

The activists entered The Collection Gallery at the Royal Academy just and glued their hands to the base of the painting. 

Security quickly responded and cleared visitors away before trying to prise the activists off the artwork. Police arrived nearly an hour later and arrested them on suspicion of criminal damage.

That action took place days after protestors glued themselves to works by JMW Turner, Vincent van Gogh and Horatio McCulloch in London, Glasgow and Manchester to warn against ‘a future of suffering’.