A VETERAN environmental campaigner has revealed he was one of those arrested during climate change protests which brought parts of London to a standstill.

Jon Fuller, spokesman for South East Essex Friends of the Earth, was arrested defending a pink boat parked in the centre of Oxford Circus by Extinction Rebellion campaigners.

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Colourful message - London protestors

The campaigners took part in demonstrations at Parliament Square, Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus, and Marble Arch last month.

Mr Fuller, 61, from Westcliff, said: “I lay down in the road for six and half hours. When my time came, the police approached me and gave me the required number of warnings.

“I said that I would not move and so they told me I would now be arrested. It took six officers to pick me up and carry me out of the crowd.

“On the edge of Oxford Circus, just getting beyond the main body of protesters, the police nearly dropped me, head first.

Mr Fuller, who has campaigned against the expansion of Southend Airport and proposals for an estuary airport, added: “There were so many protesters being arrested that the processing would take a couple of hours. I have tried every lawful action I could possibly think of but none of it has worked.

“I have a one-year old grandson and I do not believe the youngest members of the police officers’ families and my family can survive what is coming. I was left with no other choice but to take this action.”

After a short spell in a cell Mr Fuller was released pending further investigation.

Mr Fuller said: “I want my day in court to explain that to the magistrates, and make the point that I asked the judiciary to act, but it refused to protect my family and the world’s most vulnerable people.”

Climate campaigners are to meet Environment Secretary Michael Gove on Tuesday next week.