LONDON — Environmental protesters disrupted traffic by blocking four London bridges on Friday, while other activists continued to make their demands heard by targeting oil terminals across the UK.
Double-decker red cars and buses reversed as hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists occupied London’s Waterloo, Blackfriars, Lambeth and Westminster Bridges. The protesters were calling for an end to new investments in fossil fuels.
The Metropolitan Police Service said groups of protesters were causing delays and disruption in central London.
The protests are part of a growing climate action movement that has also seen the group Insulate Britain clog highways and roads to demand the government fund more energy-efficient homes.
In response, the Conservative government introduced measures to curb such protests, a move that sparked a debate over free speech.
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On Friday, the government praised oil companies for securing court orders to arrest protesters blockading oil depots.
More than 600 people have been arrested in the past two weeks following environmental activists climbed onto oil vessels, padlocked themselves on structures and blocked roads at oil depot sites across the UK.
Extinction Rebellion affiliate Just Stop Oil is calling on the government to halt all new oil and gas projects.
Energy Minister Greg Hands said that “while we value the right to protest peacefully, it is crucial that (protests) do not disrupt people’s daily lives.” Several companies have won injunctions limiting protesters’ actions and access to sites, he said.
Protests continued on Friday at sites in south-east and central England despite injunctions, with dozens of arrests.
The Associated Press
