Climate protesters block London's M25 in defiance of court order

Climate change protesters once again blocked London’s busy M25 orbital motorway on Monday, in defiance of a court injunction against the demonstrations that the government had sought to prevent disruption.

Activist group Insulate Britain said that 52 people had defied the injunction, granted by the High Court last Tuesday, and blocked part of the M25.  The group has repeatedly blocked the motorway and also targeted the Port of Dover on Friday, leading the government to seek a further court order.

The group said that injunctions, which mean protesters may face jail time for repeating the protests, would not deter them.  “You can throw as many injunctions at us as you like, but we are going nowhere,” Insulate Britain spokesman Liam Norton said in a statement.

London’s Metropolitan Police said they were on the scene and had re-opened one lane of the motorway.   

“We’re attending a protest at Junction 14 of the #M25 near Heathrow Airport where activists are blocking traffic on a slip road,” it said in a statement. “Arrests are being made.”