Just Stop Oil mob hit the streets for more rush-hour chaos protests – just hours after new measures to crack down on eco clowns by giving police wider powers to tackle road-blockers
- Three people are arrested as eco activists continue to disrupt rush hour traffic
- Protests today in East Acton, West Kensington, Hammersmith and Gunnersbury
Just Stop Oil protesters were back out again today as they disrupted the morning rush hour by slow marching on the road at least four locations across West London.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the environmental activists were demonstrating on the A40 at Savoy Circus in East Acton; North End Road in West Kensington; Shepherds Bush Road in Hammersmith; and Chiswick Roundabout in Gunnersbury.
Video filmed on the A40, which is a major road for those heading into Central London from the West, showed angry scenes as protesters urged each other to ‘keep walking’ while motorists sounded horns and motorcyclists revved their engines.
One irate motorist shouted ‘I want to move now’ but the demonstrators refused to budge, while another tried to push them out of the way to let a driver through and exclaimed: ‘Get out the f***ing way bruv, get out the way then, move man.’
Scotland Yard said two people were arrested at Chiswick Roundabout and one at North End Road, for refusing to comply with conditions imposed by police.
Just Stop Oil activists slow march today on the A40 Savoy Circus in East Acton, West London
A Just Stop Oil protester is detained by police the Chiswick Roundabout in West London today
A motorist tries to push the activists out of the way in East Acton to let a driver through today
The Chiswick Roundabout protest began at 8.03am and ended by 8.21am, while the Shepherds Bush Road demonstration started at 8.27am and was cleared at 8.47am.
The North End Road protest involved 15 people and began at 8.42am before finishing at 8.47am, while the A40 protest began at 8.43am before being cleared at 9.07am.
READ MORE House of Lords approves measures to crack down on eco clown protests by giving the police wider powers to tackle road-blockers
The activists continued their slow marching protests just hours after measures to tackle protests by eco-zealots were approved by the House of Lords last night.
Peers voted against moves to throw out Suella Braverman’s proposals, which will give police wider powers to tackle road-blocking protesters.
The Home Secretary said groups such as Just Stop Oil were ‘putting people’s lives at risk’ by blocking ambulances and stopping patients from getting to hospital appointments.
The result of the vote means the measures will become law – but a separate vote in the Upper House criticised the way the Government introduced the powers.
Peers said similar measures were already dropped from the Public Order Act earlier this year, and that ministers had not allowed scrutiny of the new attempt. Crossbencher Lord Pannick KC described it as a ‘constitutional outrage’.
The leading barrister said he supported the aims of the legislation and that the public should not have their daily lives interrupted by road-blocking protests.
But he added: ‘This is a constitutional outrage. The issue is whether we are going to approve regulations which defy the will of Parliament.’
Lord Hogan-Howe, a former Metropolitan Police commissioner, agreed that it was the ‘wrong way’ to introduce the measures but insisted police need more ‘clarity’ on when they can act to remove demonstrators.
A Just Stop Oil protester is detained by police the Chiswick Roundabout in West London today
A motorist remonstrates with the activists on the A40 in East Acton this morning
Baroness Jones, of the Green Party, said the legislation would ‘erode the right to protest’ and the way the Government attempted to bring it in would ‘enfeeble’ the Upper House.
Her bid to get the legislation thrown out was defeated by 154 votes to 64. The Government’s original measures were then passed without a vote.
READ MORE Just Stop Oil supporter Dale Vince slams suggestion eco zealots should foot their own protest bills after costing police more than £4.5m
Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported how Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party was accused of ‘abandoning the law-abiding majority’, after its MPs voted against the same measures on Monday.
Labour peers opposed the legislation on constitutional grounds, but did not seek to block it and instead moved an amendment which expressed ‘regret’ over the Government’s actions – which was passed by 177 to 141.
Last night Labour home affairs spokesman Lord Coaker said the Conservatives ‘snuck them through’ in a ‘breach of convention’.
It came after Mrs Braverman, writing exclusively in the Mail earlier this week, accused the opposition of going easy on activists after taking £1.5million in donations from green tycoon Dale Vince, who bankrolls Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rising.
She said that in the last six weeks Just Stop Oil has carried out 156 ‘slow marches’ in the capital, taking up 13,770 police officer shifts at a cost of £4.5million.
The new public order measures will redefine what amounts to ‘serious disruption to the life of the community’ under the law.
Current rules require ‘significant delay’ and ‘prolonged disruption’ to have been caused before police can act. But that threshold will be lowered to ‘more than minor’ delays.
The measures were put forward in a so-called ‘statutory instrument’, which must be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
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