Just Stop Oil stop M25 protests for now 

Just Stop Oil activists will stop their M25 protests with immediate effect, the group has said.

The group’s demonstrators have been blocking parts of the busy motorway for the past four days, leading to multiple arrests. 

The pause would allow the government “to do the right thing” whilst the police say the move would help them “focus resources” on other crimes. 

Just Stop Oil said it wants the government to halt new licences for the exploration of oil and other fossil fuels in the UK. 

The group have said returning to motorway protests in the future is still on the cards. “We’re not saying we’re going back to the motorway, but we’re not saying we won’t go back either. But we’ve stopped this for the moment,” they said.

The recent protests from the group coincided with the COP27 climate summit being held in Egypt. 

The Just Stop Oil spokesperson told PM Rishi Sunak to “consider his statement at Cop26, where he spoke of the catastrophic threat posed by the ravages of global heating, the 33 million people displaced by floods in Pakistan, and the moral and economic imperative to honour our pledges”.