Just Stop Oil: M25 protests to be halted

Just Stop Oil activists have announced they will halt their protests on the M25, to give the government time to reconsider issuing fresh licences for oil and gas extraction.

The climate protest group has been blocking parts of the busy motorway for four days, leading to multiple arrests.

The demonstrators said they had chosen Remembrance Day to halt the action to call on Rishi Sunak “to honour all those who served and loved their country” by ensuring a “liveable future.”

Just Stop Oil staged 32 days of disruption from the end of September and throughout October, which the Metropolitan police said resulted in 677 arrests with 111 people charged.

Their action on the M25 this week, where protestors climbed on overhead gantries in multiple locations caused severe disruption to commuters.

On Wednesday a police officer was injured while responding to the protests.

The police motorcyclist was hurt following a collision involving two lorries at a rolling roadblock in Essex.

Surrey Police have welcomed the demonstrations being halted, and said it will allow them to "focus resources on tackling other crime within our communities.

"However, we are not being complacent and have resources in place to deal with any further disruption if required," a spokesperson added.

The protest group said on Friday it would halt its action on the motorway. The statement said: “From today, Just Stop Oil will halt its campaign of civil resistance on the M25.

“We are giving time to those in government who are in touch with reality to consider their responsibilities to this country at this time.

“We ask that the prime minister consider his statement at Cop27, where he spoke of the catastrophic threat posed by the ravages of global heating, the 33 million people displaced by floods in Pakistan, and the moral and economic imperative to honour our pledges.

“You don’t get to recycle words and promises – you owe it to the British people to act.”

They continued: “Take the necessary first step to ensure a liveable future and halt new oil and gas.

“The UK government’s failure to do so is a criminal dereliction of its fundamental duty – to protect and safeguard the lives of its citizens, and is an act of utter betrayal of billions of people living in the global south. It is murder, plain and simple.

“The supporters of Just Stop Oil are now the people upholding law and order and protecting civil society.

“Under British law, people in this country have a right to cause disruption to prevent greater harm – we will not stand by.”

However a spokesperson for the group said they did not rule out returning to the motorway in the future.

"We’re not saying we’re going back to the motorway, but we’re not saying we won’t go back either. But we’ve stopped this for the moment," they said.

According to Just Stop Oil, its supporters have been arrested more than 2,000 times since its campaign began on 1 April.