Protesters climb key bridge east of London, clogging key freight route

[October 17, 2022]   LONDON (Reuters) - Two climate activists climbed to the top of a heavily-used road bridge east of London on Monday morning, forcing police to close the crossing and causing traffic on the route to come to a standstill.

The Just Stop Oil campaign group, which wants Britain to stop all new oil and gas projects, said a teacher and a bridge design engineer from London, both in their 30s, had climbed the Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) Bridge across the River Thames.

The cable-stayed bridge, which opened in 1991 as the only bridge across the Thames downstream of Central London in a century, serves as a key route for international freight travelling north after arriving on England's southern coast

England's highways authority warned of two-hour delays and advised motorists to find alternative routes.

"This is a complex operation due to the height at which the protestors are currently situated and it may take some but we are working as quickly as possible," Essex Police said.

Just Stop Oil has been holding protests for the last few weeks in the British capital, including by throwing tomato soup over a Vincent van Gogh painting at the National Gallery and gluing themselves to roads.

The group said there had been more than 450 arrests by police in recent weeks related to its actions.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James)

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