Just Stop Oil protester blocking Dartford Crossing compares himself to Martin Luther King and the Suffragettes | UK News

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A Just Stop Oil protester blocking the Dartford Crossing has compared himself and others in the group to Dr Martin Luther King and the Suffragettes.

Morgan Trowland, 39, is one of two participants to have attached themselves to the Queen Elizabeth II bridge more than 200ft above the River Thames.

The toll bridge, which connects Essex and Kent, has been closed since the pair scaled the structure in the early hours of Monday morning.

Essex Police said on Tuesday they had arrived at the bridge with a “raised platform” to “allow specialists to work at height and continue meaningful engagement with 2 people”.

Speaking to Sky News from the bridge, Mr Trowland said: “Many people will get angry about this and I understand that anger.

“But in other times in history the Suffragettes were widely hated by most of the population. For decades they did much more extreme acts of disobedience.

“Martin Luther King was reviled in America in the early 1960s – sometimes people hate the thing that needs to come next.”

The closure of the M25 at the crossing caused delays of two hours during rush hour on Monday, with six miles of congestion on the anti-clockwise carriageway and five miles in the opposite direction, National Highways said.

Commuters saw similar disruption on Tuesday morning after the group said the placement will remain on the bridge’s masts for as long as possible.

Image: Morgan Trowland is one of the protesters at the top of the bridge

Asked if he was sorry to those affected, he said: “I know it’s awful to be disrupted and it’s frustrating, but I would ask people disrupted by this to have a thought and empathy for the 33 million people in Pakistan this summer who have been Driven out of their homes by floodwaters caused by the climate crisis, caused by our oil and gas, developed here in Britain.

“I’m not sorry for trying to protect the land, my people, I’m not sorry.”

Just Stop Oil says it will continue with “non-violent civil disobedience” throughout autumn and winter until the government revokes newly granted oil and gas licenses.

‘We didn’t bring ropes to come down’

Asked when he planned to come down, Mr Trowland, who is a civil engineer, added: “We’re figuring that out.

“We didn’t bring long enough ropes to come down because that would be too heavy.”

Essex Police said officers were called shortly before 3.50am on Monday to a report that two people had climbed onto the bridge at the Dartford Crossing.

In an updated statement on Tuesday afternoon, they said: “I know this situation is incredibly frustrating, but we are doing everything possible to resolve this situation as quickly and as safely as possible.

“We are not in any way anti-protest. However, it is unacceptable for people to think they can put lives in danger and selfishly stop others going about their lives and the public rightly expect us to take action against anyone who believes they can do this – and we will.”

Mr Trowland revealed he is balancing in a hammock, but almost “bottled it” at the first hurdle.

“The very first step I almost bottled it. Getting onto the cable… was just terrifying,” he said.

Image: Traffic stopped at the Dartford Crossing on Monday

But a spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said there was no current plans for the protesters to come down.

“My understanding is that they are going to stay up there until they’re brought down, that’s my understanding at the moment.

“I don’t know how they’re going to be brought down, and I’m not sure the police do either at the moment.”

Another protester, identified as Marcus, 33, a teacher from London, said: “Only direct action will now help to reach the social tipping point we so urgently need.”

On Sunday, members of the campaign group sprayed an Aston Martin showroom with orange paint and a few days earlier threw tomato soup over Van Gogh masterpiece Sunflowers.

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