Climate protest group Just Stop Oil has halted traffic on the M25 this morning, declaring the London Orbital motorway a "site of civil resistance" following record-breaking temperatures on Tuesday.
The group has said it is aiming to block the motorway from Wednesday until Friday, demanding the UK government immediately ends licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.
Surrey Police said officers were dealing with the protest. In a statement, the force said: “We’re dealing with a protest on the M25 just past junction 10 of the anti-clockwise carriageway this morning. Three lanes are currently closed, causing miles of tailbacks.
“We will keep you informed of further updates. In the meantime please avoid the area.”
On Wednesday morning, the group said it had stopped traffic in three places by climbing onto the gantries that support overhead signs, forcing the police to close sections of the motorway.
The group has issued a statement saying the record heatwave is "without doubt the most important moment in UK history".
"All time temperature records are being obliterated, thousands of people are expected to die from heatstroke and the liars and plotters who are vying to lead us are too busy fighting among themselves to even care," the statement said.
The group accused the government of being "criminals", who they said were "overseeing the destruction of everything that is needed for society and the state to function".
"We are therefore declaring the M25 a site of civil resistance against our criminal government. We ask that no one travels on this motorway from Wednesday to Friday this week as we will be blocking the highway. 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."
The statement added: "We have a clear demand: that the UK government makes a statement that it will immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK. This is the necessary first step to ensuring a liveable future."
Louise Lancaster, 56, a former teacher and mother of three from Cambridge was among those protesting.
In a statement on Just Stop Oil’s website posted on Wednesday morning, she said: “The world is burning, it’s got to be obvious now to the people of this country, you have been lied to, fobbed off by the government and media fuelled by the oil barons and their greed. We have a serious, serious emergency; action needs to be taken. The government must not licence 40 new oil fields. The government must take swift action to stand by its climate pledges and protect the future for our young people.”
Just Stop Oil has previously blocked the M25 and petrol forecourts, damaging over 50 fuel pumps, with 35 people arrested during a protest in April.
The M25 has been the subject of repeated environmental protests after Insulate Britain also targeted the motorway last year.
The rise in incidents prompted the home secretary, Priti Patel, to push for new powers to curb such protests. “Serious disruption prevention orders”, were among those included in a raft of controversial police powers in the new Public Order Bill, and would empower police to put electronic tags on disruptive demonstrators and restrict where they go, who they meet and what they do in person or online, even if they have not committed a crime.
However, Ms Patel’s own department – the Home Office – warned earlier this year that the plan would probably fall foul of the law.
A Home Office analysis suggested that persistent climate activists were “undeterred by the threat of arrest”, and said the proposals for "serious disruption prevention orders "essentially take away a person’s right to protest and would very likely to lead to a legal challenge".
