Police praised for 'outstanding' work dealing with protests in Essex
Officers have been working longer shifts to manage the extra workload
Police officers who've been dealing with a week of oil terminal protests in Essex have been praised for their 'outstanding' work.
Just Stop Oil have been causing disruption to oil refineries and roads across Thurrock and Purfleet as part of calls for the Government to end its commitment to oil and gas.
Protestors have glued themselves to roads and locked themselves on to the top of tankers.
Since action began on the 1st April, Essex Police says its made 338 arrests on suspicion of a number of offences.
Assistant Chief Constable Glen Pavelin said: “Our officers have been absolutely outstanding over the past week. They’ve continued to deal with a complex and challenging situation in a really fair, balanced way.
“As a result of these protests, officers have been working around the clock.
“They’ve worked longer shifts to balance protests and protect and serve people across our county – tackling crimes from domestic abuse to burglaries, responding to serious collisions, and launching a murder investigation in Brentwood.
“All this has meant they’ve been missing out on time at home, with a lot of parents missing out on time with their children over half term.
“I’m so proud of all of the hard work of our officers and all our partners who have been involved, including Thurrock Council, the East of England Ambulance Service and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, as well as the local fuel companies, all of whom we’ve been working closely with through the past week.
“As we said yesterday – we want our officers to be protecting and serving the people of Essex, and catching criminals who are causing significant harm to the people of our county.
“Making 338 arrests in seven days – between Friday 1 and Friday 8 April – has been challenging on our resources, but we must stop people from committing offences.
“Policing is not anti-protest, but we will continue to make arrests as long as crimes continue to be committed during these protests.”
No action was reported at sites on Saturday 9th April.