Protesters from the ‘Insulate Britain’ group stopped traffic and sat in the road from around 8am in an attempt to raise awareness of the need to better insulate social housing.

The protests were at junction three in Kent, six and 14 in Surrey, 20 in Hertfordshire and 31 in Essex. Ninety two arrests were made. 

AA President Edmund King condemned the protests. “This action is not only incredibly dangerous in potentially putting lives at risk but it also backfires in environmental terms by causing more delays and more vehicle emissions,” he said.

Essex Police chief inspector Paul Austin said the incident caused significant disruption and thanked the drivers affected for their patience.

Hertfordshire Police superintendent Adam Willmot said protesters ignored requests to move, “so we took robust action to enable roads to be reopened and to remove the protesters causing obstructions”.

Surrey Police took to Twitter to ask motorists caught up in the disruption to send in dash camera footage.

National Highways’ head of service delivery for the south east Sean Martell said: “We work hard with police and other partners to limit the effects of protests in the strategic road network.”

According to Insulate Britain, the disruption lasted around two hours. Asked by TP why the group had targeted roads when their issue is about housing, a spokesman replied that a mass act of civil disobedience was required to make an impact.

(Photograph: Insulate Britain)

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