M25 protests: Police wish to speak to people affected by Insulate Britain protesters

A dedicated team of officers has been building a case against the Insulate Britain protesters who targeted a number of junctions of the M25 and M3 on September 13, 15, 17 and 21 September.

The most recent activity in Surrey resulted in 38 people being arrested after it was reported that protesters were walking down the embankment to the hard shoulder between J9 and 10 on the M25 at 7.57am on Tuesday, September 21.

Officers were at the scene within three minutes after the protesters made their way onto both the anti-clockwise and clockwise carriageways of the motorway and cleared them within minutes, allowing the motorway to be reopened with very little disruption.

However, earlier protests which took place at J6 and 14 of the M25 on September 13, J8 and 10 on September 15, J9 of the M25 and J1 of the M3 on September 17, resulted in far greater disruption, with many motorists held up for several hours and diversions put in place.

During the four days of activity on Surrey’s roads, the protesters were arrested on suspicion of a variety of offences, including criminal damage, causing danger to road users, wilful obstruction of the highway and causing a public nuisance.

Temporary Detective Sergeant Steven Cassidy, who is part of the investigation team, said: "We are keen to be able to present the fullest evidential picture we can to the Crown Prosecution Service in order that we can reflect the seriousness of the situation and seek to prosecute the most appropriate offences.

"Therefore, we are appealing for help from anyone who suffered a serious personal impact as a result of the disruption.

"However, please only come forward if you have suffered serious impact. You also need to be willing to provide us with a statement and then go to court to give your evidence for any trials that may follow – this could mean more than one visit to court as we may have a situation where we are running a number of trials.

"I must reiterate that the impact needs to be serious – it cannot just be that it was inconvenient."

T/DS Cassidy added: "My team is continuing to work tirelessly to collect evidence to ensure anyone breaking the law is brought to justice.

"This has included sifting through numerous social media posts to find those heart-breaking stories of people who were seriously affected by these protests.

"If that was you, and you have not already come forward, please do so – we would really like to hear from you."

If you can help, please contact the police quoting reference PR/45210099745 via: webchat at surrey.police.uk; online at https://www.surrey.police.uk/tua/tell-us-about/cor/tell-us-about-existing-case-report; or calling 101

The police are also still appealing for any video and dashcam footage which was captured - please share it with them on the link below:

https://unitedkingdom1cpp-portal.digital-policing.co.uk/serip/appeal/appeal-for-video-footage-of-protesters-m25-junction-10-on-21-09-2021.