An environmental protester asked a driver ‘where are you going to go?’ as he pleaded for them to let him through a blockade to go to the hospital.
Just after 12pm today, 20 supporters of Just Stop Oil formed a roadblock along Shoreditch High Street.
Footage uploaded by the group showed a protester shouting ‘where are you going to go?’ after the driver revved his engine at them.
The driver says: ‘My Mrs is not well, mate. I need to get to the hospital, get out of the f***ing way, mate.
‘She’s not f***ing well,’ he adds, ‘get out of the way.’
‘My Mrs is not well, mate, I need to get out of the hospital and these c***s are doing s**t like this,’ the driver says.
‘Have some respect for other people and not just yourselves, yeah?’ he adds, ‘there are other people who need to get places.’
Just Stop Oil blocked off the major east London thoroughfare on the corner of Great Eastern Street and Commercial Street.
The driver was stuck at the traffic lights outside Savoy Cafe and Kitchen, with Just Stop Oil members sitting and standing in front of him in hi-res orange vests.
Further footage shows pedestrians shouting ‘get out of the way’ and dragging members from the middle of the road as car horns roared.
Another man ripped a banner from a demonstrator’s hand as he says: ‘Get out of the f***ing road.’
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said: ‘Yesterday, Just Stop Oil supporters threw soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers on display at the National Gallery and paint over the Metropolitan Police’s iconic New Scotland Yard sign.
‘We accept that both these actions have upset and provoked many people, as will the disruption caused by today’s roadblock.’
The coalition of environmental groups that are lobbying the government to stop all new oil and gas consents and licenses said the millions are already ‘facing the brutal impact of climate change’.
‘Yet our government is seeking to expand fossil fuel production,’ the statement said.
‘The government can at the very least end the disruption on the streets tomorrow by announcing this policy. They have changed their mind on everything else.’
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