Insulate Britain block Parliament Square on their 19th day of action

Insulate Britain eco zealots today brought their road blockades to Westminster as they sat down in Parliament Square, as it was revealed their protests have already cost Scotland Yard nearly £2million in the first four weeks.

Around 40 protesters from the group sat on the road near the London Underground station from 9am and glued themselves to it – bringing most traffic to a halt, although cyclists could still make their way past them. 

The environmental campaigners have now blocked roads on 19 days since September 13, causing misery for drivers stuck in long queues on the M25 around London and further afield in Dover, Manchester and Birmingham.

So far, 161 people have been involved in the roadblock campaign and there have been 801 arrests. Up to 32 of its activists now face up to two years in prison for breaching a court injunction by blocking traffic on motorways.

Insulate Britain issued pictures of many of them yesterday, and said nine have already been summoned to the High Court in London on November 16 for breaching the National Highways injunction by disrupting the M25.

The Extinction Rebellion offshoot group said they face a contempt of court hearing and if found to be in breach of the court order could be subject to unlimited fines, seizure of assets and jail sentences of up to two years.

A further 23 activists, who have also defied one or more of the four injunctions, are expected to be summoned to court in the coming days. They were effectively banned from all major roads in England on Monday last week.

It comes as figures obtained by LBC revealed policing Insulate Britain protests on roads around London cost the Metropolitan Police £1,961,616.44 in the first four weeks of their protests from September 13 to October 10.

The force said ‘opportunity costs’ for police staff and officers amounted to more than £1.7million, ‘fleet’ costs for cars and vehicles came in at £22,000 and paying for officers to work overtime lost the force £217,000.

Andy Trotter, former deputy assistant commissioner at the Met and former chief constable of the British Transport Police, said it was a ‘shocking use of public money that could easily have been used for something better’.

More to follow