Protesters have caused widespread disruption on the M25 for a second day after several junctions were blocked.
Just Stop Oil said “approximately 15” of its supporters climbed on to overhead gantries in “multiple locations” on the UK’s busiest motorway from 7am on Tuesday, causing police to halt traffic.
The Metropolitan police said 16 protesters were arrested in a joint operation with neighbouring forces, including Essex police, Surrey police and Kent police.
Essex police said officers were on the northbound carriageway of the M25 near Dartford Crossing, where a demonstrator, believed to be from Just Stop Oil, had climbed the gantry at junction 31, closing the northbound tunnels.
National Highways said there were delays of 60 minutes, with congestion for five miles.
Hertfordshire constabulary said they were responding to a protest at junction 20 of the M25 near Kings Langley and urged motorists to seek alternative routes.
Surrey police said two protesters had climbed gantries between junctions 8 and 9 and junctions 12 and 13, stopping traffic in both directions.
The Metropolitan police arrested seven people before Monday’s protest on suspicion of “conspiracy to intentionally or recklessly cause public nuisance”, a new offence under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The protest went ahead, with forces including Kent, Essex, Surrey and Hertfordshire facing demonstrators in 13 locations.
As well as the arrests, police believe some of those involved in the demonstrations could have breached a high court injunction obtained by National Highways.
Just Stop Oil said in a statement: “We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence peaceful people. Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities.”
The Met is conducting an operation to foil the protests in conjunction with the National Police Coordination Centre.
Just Stop Oil staged 32 days of disruption from the end of September and throughout October, which the Met said resulted in 677 arrests with 111 people charged, and required officers to work 9,438 additional shifts.
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According to the group, since its campaign began on 1 April, Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested nearly 2,000 times, with five activists in prison.
It added that the government’s refusal to halt North Sea oil and gas extraction would contribute to global warming, which “will result in the collapse of ordered civil society, the loss of our rights and freedoms and the death of countless millions of people”.
The work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, said Just Stop Oil protesters did have a point, “in [a] sense”.
He told Sky News: “I do think there’s a major issue when individuals can go on to motorways or even just outside parliament, in fact, periodically, at will, just sit down in the middle of the road and disrupt the traffic – sometimes, indeed, emergency services get caught up in that as well.”
But when it was put to him that the environmental activists had a point, he said: “Well, they do in [a] sense. Couple of points … one is, absolutely, we are all determined, and this government above all else is absolutely determined, to bear down on the use of fossil fuels.
“Second point I would make is that we do have to strike the right balance between the right of individuals to express their opinion and protest, which is absolutely fundamental to a civilised democracy – which is what we have in our country – and, at the other time, making sure that we don’t inconvenience the public or indeed endanger the public in some circumstances.”
