A group of eco-activists decided to sit in the street and block traffic as people were heading to work and taking their children to school. However, the protest quickly ended when fed-up citizens took matters into their own hands.
As usual, Insulate Britain eco-activists took their protest of the use of fossil fuels to the streets of Essex, intent on preventing traffic on the M25. For the thirteenth time in a month, demonstrators sat in the road, blocking drivers who were dropping off their children at school and heading to work. However, they soon realized their routine was no longer feasible.
As political tensions rise, activists are becoming more creative in their disruptions and less effective in their resolutions. In fact, one of the most despised advocate groups is the climate change demonstrators, due to their harmful tactics and hypocritical behavior.
Just over half an hour after 40 protesters brought traffic to a halt without any intervention from the police, drivers decided to resolve the issue themselves, the Evening Standard reports. Irate civilians hopped out of their vehicles and grabbed activists by their arms, legs, and backpacks, dragging them away one-by-one like petulant toddlers throwing a tantrum.
Although the activists repeatedly attempted to scoot back into the road after being dragged off, they were no match for the determined taxpayers.
One driver said: “Look you’ve made your point but you are going to gridlock the whole area. This is not going to help. My business is on its knees. We have a massive haulage problem in the UK and this is a key point. Look at my warehouse there – how am I going to insulate that?”
Another driver, filmed trying to drag the activists away, barks at the group: “Why aren’t you at work? Why are you just sitting there, please just move. You self-satisfied p***.”
More drivers exited their vehicles to join in forcibly removing the Insulate Britain activists from the road. One mother chastised them for preventing her from taking her 11-year-old son to school. Another told LBC that their demonstration caused him to miss a job interview that he desperately needed.
A motorist told LBC at the scene: “I’ve lost my job interview because of these lot here, for a skip driver. I’m a HGV (driver) – look at this lot, none of them work, they’re all retired. I’ve lost it (the job opportunity), I’ve been told, I’ve lost it because I’m too late because of these. I’m an hour late because of this lot. I’ve got two young children.”
After the confrontation started to get physical, the police finally decided to act. Within minutes, Essex Police made 16 arrests and reopened the lanes. Authorities also confirmed that there is an injunction banning the group from blocking the motorway.
The group maintains that they are doing more good than harm. In fact, they claim that some of the drivers had exited their vehicles to thank them for their efforts. Of course, this thanks likely came from individuals who are financially secure enough but certainly not from those who are struggling to feed their families.
Dr Diana Warner, who the group described as an Insulate Britain supporter, said: “Many people are going out of their way to thank us. Some come out of their cars to thank us, some are police officers involved with our arrests. To them, we bring hope – we haven’t yet given up. We are still pushing for life saving changes.”
Oddly, all of the protesters appear to be older white people, most of whom are women. As one driver pointed out, they are likely retired and don’t have to worry about job security or their children’s education.
Not only are these demonstrators out of touch with their fellow citizens, but they have a flagrant disregard for the suffering of those who are less fortunate than themselves. Instead of making changes to their own privileged lifestyles, they demand the government enforce these changes on everyone else, delivering the most damage to the poor.
The fact that the police are failing to intervene has left citizens fending for themselves. Hopefully, these demonstrators learned a valuable lesson and won’t continue their destructive tactics.
