MULTIPLE people - including several from south Cumbria - have been arrested by police during a protest against oil refineries and distribution centres.

Four activists from South Cumbria were among the hundreds of people arrested for taking part in nationwide climate protests organised by ‘Just Stop Oil’.

Refineries and distribution centres across the country have been blockaded by the group who have been supported by other climate organisations including Extinction Rebellion.

Police say that more than 200 arrests have been made since the protests began on April 1.

The protesters have climbed onto oil tankers and even tunnelled beneath access roads in an effort to disrupt the distribution of oil across the country.

They say they will continue until the government agrees to halt all new oil and gas exploration.

Mark Arrowsmith from Kendal said: “Blocking the distribution of oil is going to cause inconvenience and annoyance and it’s not something that we do lightly.

“But our demand, for the government to reverse its decision to grant 40 new licences for oil and gas exploration is not unreasonable, we are simply insisting that they stick to the promises they made to us all, to reduce emissions and give us some hope of meeting our climate targets.”

The protests have caused disruption across the Midlands and the South of England.

Police report multiple, repeated blockades at Hayes, London, Southampton, and Tamworth in the West Midlands. Some petrol stations are reportedly running short of supplies.

Gwen Harrison, an activist from Kendal said: “Just this week the IPPC, the leading global, climate body, tells us that it’s now or never if we are to avoid climate catastrophe and that we must end our reliance on fossil fuels in the next few years, however inconvenient that is.

“Our government is doing the opposite and were not going to let them. We won’t stand by and let them destroy our futures.”

Catherine Rennie-Nash, who took part in actions in the Midlands, said: “I’m a grandmother and I desperately want a future for my lovely grandchildren but that is going to be stolen from them if we don’t end our toxic relationship with fossil fuels.

“The good news is that renewables are ready to go; they’re cheap, clean, quick to build and will provide hundreds of thousands of decent jobs.”