Just Stop Oil protesters who have been hidden in tunnel near oil depot are removed after THIRTEEN days – having dug under delivery road and vowed not to leave in protest against future fossil fuel licences

• Just Stop Oil protestors have ended their occupation of a tunnel after 13 days
• Three men stayed in a 16 metre tunnel under a road by an oil depot in Essex
• The tunnellers were arrested after they left the tunnel at around 3:45pm 

Just Stop Oil activists who occupied a tunnel for 13 days under a road near to an oil terminal in Essex have been arrested.

The three men left the tunnel in Grays at around 3:45pm this afternoon after claiming they had ‘reached their objective’ and were immediately detained by Essex Police.

In a video from the 16 metre tunnel, one protestor boasted about causing massive disruption to the flow of oil and being mentioned by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel.

The man said they repeatedly told Essex Police the road to the oil terminal is unsafe and revealed the group managed to break through to the surface of the road above.

Essex Police’s Chief Constable acknowledged that climate change is a concern in a statement on Friday but said that it cannot justify actions that ‘seriously disrupt’ and ‘endanger’ the lives of others.

Three Just Stop Oil protestors have been arrested after occupying a tunnel under a road by an oil terminal in Essex for 13 days

The protestors claimed their objective had been achieved and showed they tunnelled through to the surface of the road in Grays

(Left to right) Joe Howlett from Bath, Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer from London and Samuel Johnson from Suffolk

On August 23 dozens of environmental activists caused chaos outside two oil plants through their usual method of blocking roads, but several people occupied tunnels as part of the protest.

Just Stop Oil said five people were occupying two tunnels dug under St Clements Way and London Road in Grays, while another four were occupying a further two tunnels dug near the Kingsbury terminal.

After more than a week, just three men were left in a tunnel, they were Samuel Johnson, 29, from Suffolk, Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer, 21, from London, and Joe Howlett, 32, from Bath.

The trio had said they would not leave until certain promises had been made,  Mr Johnson said previously: ‘We’re going to come out as soon as the government makes a statement, a meaningful statement, they will halt on new future licences and consents for the exploration and production of fossil fuels in the UK.’ 

Chief Constable BJ Harrington released a statement on the protests on Friday, stating that Essex Police is ‘not soft on illegal protest’ and vowed to arrest the protestors.

Four people also occupied two tunnels dug near the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire 

A protestor in the tunnel, called Stephanie, said it was ‘increasingly difficulty to be down here’ in the confined space 

He said: ‘I understand and share the frustrations felt by communities and local businesses disrupted by protest activity. The resolution to these matters, especially where protesters have tunnelled beneath the road surface, is not straightforward and is not a case of officers simply ‘climbing in and dragging them out’.

‘Removing protesters safely from potentially unstable tunnels, without endangering the lives of those we would be sending in, is a careful balance that must be found.

He said the wider road network across Thurrock was open and there was not  justification for entering a structurally unsound tunnel.

He added: ‘Let me be clear – the three protesters who remain in that tunnel in Thurrock are behaving in an unacceptable, disruptive and unlawful way.’

‘The cause the protesters wish to highlight – climate change and the need to protect our environment for future generations – is one many of us will recognise and understand. Climate change is a real concern.

‘Even so, concerns about the climate – however real – cannot justify actions that seriously disrupt and endanger the lives of others.’ 

Essex Police have been contacted for a comment on the arrests. 

Just Stop Oil protesters are removed by police during a demonstration next to the M25 at Grays in Essex this morning

A protestor, who left the tunnel earlier, posted a video of herself inside one of the tunnels, where she said she was struggling to breathe because of her severe asthma in the dust-filled confined space.

The activist, called Stephanie, said: ‘I’ve spent the last five hours trying to get rubble out of the tunnel… it’s become increasingly difficult to be down here.

‘I’m really struggling to breathe, probably because I’ve got really severe asthma but we don’t really have much of a choice to be here if I want to save my two children’s futures. So I’m having to just power through and go up for air, go near to the end as much as I can.’

She added: ‘It’s so horrible down here – and we’ve had to bring everything into the tunnel because of the scare we had earlier. So half our tunnel is currently filled with belongings and water and supplies and food which will keep us going but it’s making it very difficult to move.’

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