Insulate Britain: 7 photos and videos as protesters block Old Street roundabout and M25 junction

Insulate Britain have blocked the Old Street roundabout in London and a major M25 junction this morning as part of their latest protest.

Some 40 activists stopped traffic before 8:30am on Friday in defiance of an injunction obtained by National Highways, causing long queues of rush hour traffic, until Metropolitan Police officers arrested four people glued to the tarmac and reopened the roads.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps branded the activists “glued fools” in an interview with LBC.

“It’s dangerous, it’s really outrageous, and actually, ironically, it probably adds to pollution as cars idle, waiting for their nonsense … for them to be unglued from the road,” he said.

However Tracey Mallagan, a spokeswoman for the group, defended the group’s actions in a statement. She said: “If governments don’t act soon to reduce emissions, we face a terrifying situation.

“We won’t be worrying about shortages of pasta or loo rolls because law and order breaks down pretty quickly when there is not enough food to go round.”

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The action marks the 12th day in the past four weeks that Insulate Britain has carried out road protests as part of their efforts to make the government provide insulation for 29 million homes.

The following photos and videos are from the scenes:

Insulate Britain have blocked Old Street roundabout in central LondonPA

Insulate Britain admitted its actions on the M25 are “in breach” of an injunction obtained by the Government last month.

People who break injunctions can be found to be in contempt of court, but prosecutions usually take several months meaning there is no immediate impact on the protests.