‘Blood on their hands’: Critics blame anti-oil activists for two deaths after they shut down bridge in protest

When woke climate activists glue themselves to artwork or block the milk aisle at the grocery store, that’s, at best, ridiculous and, at worst, ridiculous and incredibly annoying. But when they scale a bridge and cause a six-hour traffic delay that prevents first responders from caring for crash victims who ultimately die because of their antics, those snowflakes have got “blood on their hands” and any message they may have wanted to convey with their self-righteous antics goes up in a cloud of petroleum-infused smoke.

This is the tragic and infuriating scene that played out on England’s M20 motorway as two narcissistic activists from a group known as “Just Stop Oil” scaled the Queen Elizabeth II bridge and caused a two-day, six-mile-long backup that resulted in the deaths of two individuals who were reportedly unable to receive prompt care because it took emergency vehicles a full 40 minutes to reach them.


(Video: YouTube)

As rain poured on the busy M20 highway, Mark Heap, 55, stopped to help a stranded female driver when a speeding car tried to out-maneuver the traffic jam caused by the activists and hit him, breaking both his back and leg on Monday.

The same BMW then hit mother-of-four Lisa Webber, who also tried to help the stranded motorist, throwing her into oncoming traffic.

Webber later died from her injuries, as did the woman who was initially in need of the two Samaritans’ help, according to the Daily Mail.

“The eco-warriors may have thought it was an innocent protest, but they’ve got blood on their hands,” Heap told the Daily Mail from his hospital bed. “I don’t think they deliberately caused the crash. But their actions, bringing the traffic to a stand-still on the M20, caused the crash in which those two women died.”

“There was another bad crash on the M2 at about the same time,” Heap added.

Speaking to The Sun, former Metropolitan Police detective chief inspector Mick Neville faulted the “Just Stop Oil” protesters for the tragedy.

“They may not have directly caused the M20 accident,” he said. “But had their irresponsible demo not taken place, the women and van driver would probably not have been there.”

Heap echoed Neville’s sentiments.

“Without the protest, the emergency services might have been able to get there in time to save the women,” he said.

Police were forced to close the QE2 bridge after two activists — one of them a bridge design engineer from London — scaled the structure, presumably without any thought of the danger their stunt could cause to others.

In a press release, the engineer, 39-year-old Morgan Trowland, explained his careless actions.

“As a professional civil engineer, each year as I renew my registration, I commit to acting within our code of ethics, which requires me to safeguard human life and welfare and the environment,” he said. “Our government has enacted suicidal laws to accelerate oil production: killing human life and destroying our environment.”

“I can’t challenge this madness in my desk job, designing bridges,” he continued, “so I’m taking direct action, occupying the QE2 bridge until the government stops all new oil.”

He and his fellow activist, Marcus Decker, were eventually removed from the bridge in a cherry picker and arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance, Fox News reports.


(Video: YouTube)

Following the fatal accident, Webber’s father, Clive Kraus, took to Twitter to thank the first responders for trying to save his daughter’s life.

“Your guys were involved with assisting first aid & CPR at a road traffic accident on M20 yesterday,” he wrote. “Our daughter was one of the fatalities yesterday. We like to meet your guys to thank them & help us be at peace and lay our daughter (Lisa Webber) to rest.”

 

Melissa Fine

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