Dozens of climate activists protesting against fossil fuel production blocked multiple emergency service vehicles from driving to their destination in London on Tuesday morning, according to video of the incident.
The activists, with the climate group Just Stop Oil, laid in the middle of a busy road in the central London neighborhood Knightsbridge, forcing a fire engine and ambulance to divert from their route, the video, published by U.K. media outlet Leading Britain’s Conversation (LBC), showed. The protest also halted rush hour traffic, creating a major blockade and forcing police officers to intervene.
“I’m driving a lady who has to get to hospital with a baby,” a driver who was one of several blocked by the protest told the activists, LBC reported.
A truck driver told the protesters to stop sitting on the road “like a bunch of lemons.”
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“Where are the police? There’s not one, is there? In 15 minutes, not one,” a taxi cab driver told LBC.
Another tax driver said police were slow to act because of the paperwork involved, according to LBC.
Just Stop Oil, though, said 32 of its members were ultimately arrested during the protest. The group also defended the action, saying it was not prepared to watch while “countless millions” die from climate change.
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“32 supporters of Just Stop Oil have been arrested for peacefully blocking Knightsbridge and Brompton Road,” Just Stop Oil tweeted. “All chose to step up into Civil Resistance because it is our only chance to prevent the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced.”
“They do not want your sympathy, they want you to step up and join them,” the group added. “We are not prepared to watch while the Government plans for countless millions to die. We are going to stop new oil whether those in power agree or not. We are not asking, we are going to make it happen.”
The group didn’t provide a comment to Fox News Digital.
A spokesperson for the group previously told Fox News Digital that the group was prepared to continue to engage in “civil resistance” measures, but was committed to nonviolence.
“We are basically calling for individuals and institutions to go into civil resistance against the U.K. government, stopping them from one of the biggest acts of criminality in this country’s history, in terms of going ahead with fossil fuel, oil, gas, coal projects,” the spokesperson said in July.
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Similar protests, meanwhile, have taken place in the U.S. where activists have blocked major highways in an effort to spur climate policies. Last week, a group of protesters blocked a major highway into Washington, D.C., in an effort to persuade President Biden to declare a “climate emergency.”
“We do not enjoy putting our bodies on the line, we do it because we must,” Declare Emergency, the group that organized the protest, tweeted Friday.