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Activists say they scaled the bridge to deliver a 'warning message' Two Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled a bridge at Dartford Crossing and forced it to close have been jailed. Just Stop Oil protesters Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker were sentenced by Southend Crown Court to three years' imprisonment and two years and seven months' imprisonment respectively for causing a public nuisance.
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links the M25 in Essex and Kent, was closed from 4am on October 17 last year until 9pm the following day, causing widespread disruption as traffic was diverted.
Two Just Stop Oil protesters, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, scaled a bridge over Dartford Crossing
The court heard that the activists went up to a point nearly 200 feet above the road and unfurled a "giant Just Stop Oil flag" and "put up hammocks and stood there."
Trowland said as evidence: "We went up [to the bridge] to send a warning message, to put up a banner that said Just Stop Oil, and to get that message across through interviews with reporters."
Judge Shane Collery KC told Trowland and Decker that they were punished "for the chaos" they caused and "to discourage others from copying them."
The judge said Trowland, who had six prior protest-related convictions, had a "prominent role" while Decker had one prior protest-related conviction.
The judge said the couple "clearly believed you guys knew more than each other", adding: "In short, to hell with everyone."
“By his actions, he caused the closure of this very important highway for 40 hours,” the judge said, noting that the interruption affected “several tens of thousands of people, some very significantly.”
Prosecutor Adam King said small businesses had lost "hundreds of thousands of pounds" from the protest, adding that people had also missed the funerals of loved ones as well as children waiting for buses on the side of the road. .
Two activists scaled the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in October
He said the men came down around 5:30 pm on October 18 "with the help of the police and a very large bucket crane", but the bridge was not reopened to traffic until later.
King had told the jury: 'We are not here to challenge government policy on climate change.
Trowland, from Islington, north London, and Decker, 34, with no fixed address, denied causing a public nuisance but were found guilty in a unanimous jury verdict after two hours of deliberation.
A Just Stop Oil protester at the World Snooker Championship
Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter: “I welcome the court's decision today.
“The right to protest cannot be allowed to trump the right of the law-abiding majority to spend the day free of selfish and anti-social riots.
"We are repressing those guerrilla tactics that cause misery for the majority."
Essex Police said those affected by the traffic disruption included a "heavily pregnant woman who required urgent medical attention".
Another person missed the funeral of his best friend of 35 years, the force said, and a business lost more than £160,000 in revenue.
The ruling comes as Just Stop Oil campaigners refused to rule out targeting Sunday's London Marathon, following their hiatus from the World Snooker Championship earlier this week.
Some 50,000 protesters are expected to gather around Westminster from today until Monday to demand an end to fossil fuels, according to Extinction Rebellion, which is organizing the event.
Two Just Stop Oil members spilled bright orange dye on a pool table at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield, stopping the game before they were arrested.
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Two Just Stop Oil protesters, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, scaled the Dartford crossing
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