CHELMSFORD, (Parliament Politics magazine) – As climate change protestors continued to obstruct oil ports, more than 80 individuals were arrested.
Just Stop Oil activists said they had blocked access to a tanker park and discovered an underground network of tunnels at two oil ports in Essex.
Protesters want the UK government to put a stop to future oil and gas production.
Following protests in the Thurrock region, Essex Police claimed to have arrested 83 people for a variety of offences.
Following protests in Oliver Road, Grays, London Road, Purfleet, and Askew Farm Lane, Grays, the force said 63 people were arrested on Friday.
On Saturday, 20 people were arrested on Stoneness Road and Oliver Road in Grays, with authorities continuing to interact with demonstrators at both locations, as well as in Purfleet.
Their officers were continuing to work in extremely difficult circumstances in order to bring those protests to a safe and fast conclusion, said the Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Nolan.
He would like to express his gratitude to neighbourhood businesses, drivers, and workers for their patience as they complete their work, he added.
The primary and emergency access roads to the oil ports were closed Saturday morning, according to the Just Stop Oil activists, due to tunnel activity at Grays and Purfleet.
According to the activists, Titan Truck Park in Grays houses more than 100 oil tankers that service the area’s three major oil terminals.
This happened after Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion activists blocked 10 fuel facilities in southern England and Midlands in the early hours of Friday to protest increasing UK oil and gas production.
Protesters fastened themselves to highways and to oil barrels, as well as to each other.
ExxonMobil UK, one of the country’s largest privately-owned underground oil pipeline distribution networks, claimed three of its terminals had been shut down as a result, and police from at least five different forces had been dispatched to deal with the protests.
The Metropolitan Police arrested 14 activists who broke into a facility on Bedfont Road in Staines, Surrey, while six people were arrested at a terminal in Tyburn, Birmingham, by West Midlands Police.
