Five “fanatical” climate protesters have been jailed for plotting to cause disruption by blocking the M25 motorway, with prison sentences of up to five years.
Britain’s busiest motorway was brought to a halt for four days in November 2022 when as many as forty-five Just Stop Oil activists climbed gantries and planted themselves in the middle of the road, despite a High Court injunction obtained by National Highways which banned such actions.
Aside from the disruption to businesses and individuals across the South East, prosecutors told the court the dangerous acts of those involved caused two lorries to collide, and a police motorcyclist to fall off of his bike and suffer a concussion while he was trying to create a rolling roadblock. The protests are said to have had an economic impact of more than three-quarters of a million pounds, while the preventative action by the Metropolitan Police is believed to have cost the taxpayer over £1 million.
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