Just Stop Oil protesters clash with public after blocking road in London as 26 arrested

Just Stop Oil climate activists have clashed with a motorist who said he was trying to take his partner to hospital as they blocked a road in London.

The Metropolitan Police said officers were on the scene quickly and 26 arrests were made for wilful obstruction of the highway.

Around 30 protesters gathered on Shoreditch High Street at the junction of Great Eastern Street at around 12.15pm on Saturday where they set up a road block to disrupt traffic.

Several individuals “locked on” and glued themselves onto the road surface, adding that specialist officers were required to attend to carry out de-bonding, police said.

Footage posted on its official Twitter account showed pedestrians and drivers growing angry at the demonstrators as they urged them to move.

In a clip, a driver tells the group sitting on the road to “move out the way” as another man appears and drags one of the protesters to the pavement.

After stopping his vehicle, the driver was heard telling the protesters: “My missus is not well, mate. She needs to get to the hospital. Get out of the f******* way, mate.

He added: “Have some respect for other people, not just yourselves, yeah. There’s other people that need to get places.”

Saturday marks the 15th day of demonstrations linked to the group – which wants the government to stop issuing all new oil and gas licences.

Elsewhere in the city, Animal Rebellion supporters poured milk over the floors and over other dairy products at luxury store Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.

A clip posted to the group’s social media showed activists emptying milk bottles as shoppers and staff quietly looked on, as the group calls on the government to support farmers in a transition to a plant-based food system.

Earlier this week, two Just Stop Oil activists threw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s masterpiece Sunflowers at the National Gallery.

The women walked into the gallery in London’s Trafalgar Square and threw the contents of two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the famous 1888 painting, which has an estimated value of £72.5m.

Anna Holland, of Westgate Road in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, of Elms Road in Clapham, south London, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday charged with criminal damage to the frame of the painting.

The force added that 28 arrests were made in total in relation to protests in central London on Friday.

Lora Johnson, 38, of Keens Lane, Reydon, Southwold in Suffolk, are also due to appear in the same court.

Johnson is charged with criminal damage after the main sign outside New Scotland Yard was covered with yellow paint on Friday.

Demonstrators also blocked the road in front of the Metropolitan Police’s headquarters during Just Stop Oil’s action.

Police said 25 other people have been bailed pending further inquiries.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Saturday unveiled plans for a major crackdown on the kinds of protests typically undertaken by climate activists – as she pledged to stop demonstrators holding the public “to ransom”.

She said she will give the police new powers to take a more “proactive” approach to some protests, with some of the measures specifically targeted at the tactics used by some environmental groups.

Action is expected to last for more than a month.