New video shows furious driver tying Insulate Britain activist to metal railings with his banner
Hoist by his own petard! New video shows furious driver tying eco-zealot to metal railings with his Insulate Britain banner as activists tried to block busy road
The footage is believed to have been filmed on October 13 as activists blocked roads for the 13th timeIn the short clip, a man is seen dragging a female activist off the road, before a male activist is tied to railingsPeople queuing in cars and lorries are heard blaring their horns irate at the latest Insulate Britain protestsThe new footage comes after a woman was seen driving her 4×4 towards two protesters sitting on the roadDo you know those involved in this video? Email tips@mailonline.co.uk
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New video shows the moments a furious driver ties an Insulate Britain activist to metal railings using the protester’s own banner.
The video clip was shared by Insulate Britain and is believed to have happened on the morning of October 13, when activists blocked roads around the M25 near Thurrock for the 13th day of protests in the space of four weeks.
The footage shows a male protester being tied to metal railings with an Insulate Britain wrapped around his bag and strapped in place behind his back.
The 22-second video clip starts with a female activist being dragged off the road by a man, while people in cars and lorries sound their horns.
As soon as the protester is dragged out of the way, a lorry and a queuing line of cars start to drive through the traffic lights where the activists attempted to stop traffic.
The footage then turns to a man wearing a red baseball cap and hooded jumper who is threading an Insulate Britain poster through an activist’s bag and attempting to tie it to metal barriers behind him.
The activist, who is seated in the traffic island in the middle of the road while wearing a hi-vis vest over his clothes, does little to stop the man tying him to the metal barriers.
As the clip continues, motorists continue sounding their horns, while the man who dragged the female protester off the road screams ‘go’ at the queue of vehicles that had built around the traffic lights.
Other people also arrive on the scene and attempt to block the activists from getting back onto the road.
The clip ends with the female activist standing in the central traffic island, the male activist remains seated next to the metal barriers and vehicles, including a petrol lorry, are driven through the traffic lights unimpeded.
A man wearing a red baseball cap and a hooded jumper is seen threading an Insulate Britain poster through a protester’s bag and tying it to metal railings
The video also shows a man dragging a female activist off the road, before telling a queue of frustrated motorists to ‘go’ and drive through the traffic lights
The male activist does little to stop a man tying him to metal barriers in the centre of a busy road, while the female activist who was earlier dragged off the road stands and watches
The incident is believed to have happened on October 13 when irate motorists reacted angrily to the 13th major protest by the eco-zealots in four weeks after the group targeted the M25, the Blackwall Tunnel in London and the Port of Dover – at a time when the country was already facing a major supply chain crisis.
The eco-mob are demanding the Government pay to improve insulation in Britain’s social housing stock, but have come under fire over claims one of the group’s ringleaders lives in a home which is not properly insulated.
The green group last week suspended their ‘campaign of civil resistance’ ahead of next week’s Cop26.
Government officials meanwhile are attempting to use injunctions and court powers to bring an end to the disruptive protests of the eco-zealots – who have repeatedly bounced from police station to protests with police seemingly unable to stop them.
The short video clip also shows a long queue of lorries and cars that had been waiting at a set of traffic lights where Insulate Britain activists had gathered for their 13th major protest
The incident is believed to have been filmed on the morning of October 13 when activists blocked roads near the M25 at Thurrock
In another piece of footage filmed on October 13, a woman, angry about being delayed taking her son to school, is seen driving her 4×4 into the back of two protesters.
As she does, one of the orange-vest-wearing activists screams out, while another standing protestor taps on the car and urges her to stop.
The woman was today revealed to be Sherrilyn Speid, 34, from Purfleet, Essex.
Reacting to footage of the confrontation, Ms Speid wrote on Instagram today: ‘I never ran them over, I gave them a nudge. So dramatic man.’
A lorry driver was also seen driving his vehicle right up to protesters on a day when Essex Police said they made a total of 35 arrests.
The protester on the right started to scream before the woman stopped, got out of her car and continued shouting at the protesters
A woman who was infuriated with Insulate Britain protesters blocking the road told them ‘I’ll drive through you then’
After shouting at the protesters, the woman got back into her car and started ramming it towards two protesters sat in front of her vehicle
Sherrilyn Speid, 34, from Purfleet, Essex, was filmed driving her car into Insulate Britain protesters
Earlier today, an injunction granted to Transport for London against Insulate Britain protesters was extended by a High Court judge.
London’s transport network was granted the order earlier this month, which is aimed at preventing the Extinction Rebellion offshoot from obstructing traffic on some of the capital’s busiest roads.
It came after the group shut down Old Street, near the hipster enclave of Shoreditch in east London.
A judge said the injunction was extended either until a trial is held, a further court order or April 8 next year.
The TfL injunction bans the protesters from blocking traffic in various locations across the capital, such as Vauxhall Bridge, Tower Bridge, London Bridge and Chiswick roundabout.
It applies to busy London spots including Hanger Lane, the Hammersmith gyratory system, Blackwall Tunnel, the A501 ring road from Edgware Road to Old Street, Staples Corner, Redbridge roundabout and the Kidbrooke interchange.
Protesters are also barred from Park Lane, Marble Arch Hyde Park Corner, Elephant and Castle – including all entry and exit roads and the Victoria one-way system.
The eco-zealots last week revealed they would ‘suspend their campaign of civil resistance’ until October 25 – ahead of the Cop26 summit in November.
Activists penned a letter to Boris Johnson saying they would stop their hated antics and quoted the PM’s hero Sir Winston Churchill in an apparent bid to win him over.
The surprise move came just hours after it emerged more than a dozen of their members will finally face court action and possible jail within days.
Just over a month after the first roadblocks brought chaos to the motorways, officials are set to ask judges to take action against the eco-warriors.
Insulate Britain’s letter to the PM revealed it planned to suspend protests for 11 days.
It said: ‘Insulate Britain would like to take this opportunity to profoundly acknowledge the disruption caused over the past five weeks.
‘We cannot imagine undertaking such acts in normal circumstances. But the dire reality of our situation has to be faced.
‘Ahead of COP26, Insulate Britain will suspend its campaign of civil resistance until Monday 25th October.
‘In light of the speech you made (to the UN on the 22nd September) in which you recognised that ”We are approaching that critical turning point – in less than two months – when we must show that we are capable of learning, and maturing, and finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are inflicting, not just upon our planet but ourselves”, we ask you to use this time to signal that you believe what you say.
‘We invite you to make a meaningful statement that we can trust, a statement that the country wants to hear: that your government will live up to its responsibilities to protect us, to defend law and order; that your government will take the lead needed to insulate and retrofit our homes; that it will ‘get on with the job’ so families can feed their children and keep their homes warm.
‘We invite you to do the right thing, so we can be secure in the knowledge that our government did everything it could to protect and defend our country.’
The statement began with a quote attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, Mr Johnson’s hero who he has written a biography about.
It said: ‘Owing to past neglect, in the face of the plainest of warnings, we have entered upon a period of danger.
‘The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequence.’ (Winston Churchill 1936).’
Ringleader Liam Norton said he will hand deliver the note to the Prime Minister in Downing Street at 1pm.
The letter came on the same day it emerged more than a dozen Insulate Britain activists will finally face court action – and possible jail.
Just over a month after the first roadblocks brought chaos to the motorways, officials are asking judges to take action against the eco-zealots.
There has been increasing dismay among ministers about the slow pace of action at National Highways, previously known as Highways England, and with police who have made arrests only to release protesters hours later.
The number of activists being targeted is understood to be between 12 and 15.
The group are part of the 113 people named in National Highways injunctions which they will be accused of breaching.
A government source said: ‘We’ve identified a considerable number of protesters who have breached at least one of the injunctions we have in place.
‘National Highways lawyers are now working with the police to put together evidence in order to take these people to court.
‘We hope to get this in front of the court either later this week or early next.’ The process is fraught with difficulties, however.
Police officers remove Insulate Britain activists as they block junction 31 of the M25 last week
Angry motorists snatch banners from protestors as activists from Insulate Britain block parts of Thurrock last week
National Highways will have to apply to the High Court for committal proceedings against the activists, paperwork will have to be issued to each activist and a date for a trial will then have to be set.
If activists are found guilty of breaching an injunction they could face up to two years’ imprisonment for contempt of court.
A High Court hearing is taking place this week to extend the series of injunctions barring them from the M25, the Port of Dover and major A roads around London.
Insulate Britain, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, have on 13 occasions disrupted motorways or A roads over the past four weeks. Their protests continued despite a series of injunctions.
Retired Anglican vicar Reverend Sue Parfitt, 79, a regular Insulate Britain and XR activist, was among those being arrested on the M25 last week. She has already been arrested at other M25 protests on September 13, 21 and 29.
The group has blocked parts of major roads around London, including the M25 and M4, to draw attention to climate change.
On Tuesday protesters set light to court injunction papers that had been individually served on them, on the pavement outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
A High Court hearing was taking place over three injunctions granted to National Highways, covering the M25, Port of Dover and major A roads around London.
A previously announced plan to use a catch-all injunction against Insulate Britain is understood to have hit the legal buffers.
Officials had said they planned to obtain a ‘contra mundum injunction’ with far more sweeping terms that would be easier to enforce.
But lawyers told ministers they would have to list the ‘essential nature’ of each separate motorway and A road in the country in order to secure such an injunction.
In the face of such an administrative nightmare, the idea is now thought to have been ditched.
The Mail reported last month how Insulate Britain is planning to fill Britain’s jails with hundreds of eco-activists in an attempt to create a ‘political crisis’ for PM Boris Johnson.
They believe significant numbers of activists being jailed could light a powder keg on wider disorder, in the run-up to the Cop26 environment summit in Glasgow next month.
In September, activist Shel MacDonagh said 300 individuals would need to get themselves jailed in order to force the Government to grant concessions to the group.
‘We need this campaign to continue going, and we think we need in the ballpark of 300 people to be able to face prison for us to be able to get a chance for this [a government concession] to happen,’ she said.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has announced plans for a new type of Asbo to tackle the protests.
Criminal Disruption Prevention Orders – dubbed ‘Asbos for crusties’ – are intended to be quicker to enforce than injunctions.
A specific new offence will also be created to deal with protests by Insulate Britain and its parent group Extinction Rebellion.
It will be made a crime to ‘interfere with critical national infrastructure’, including major roads, railways, seaports, power stations and newspaper printing presses.
The new crime will carry up to six months’ imprisonment. However, both new powers will have to pass through Parliament and are not expected to come into force until spring or summer next year.
Insulate Britain is run by ringleader Norton, whose own home was found to have no cavity wall insulation.
