Southwold woman among Just Stop Oil protestors on trial for stopping traffic in London
38 year old Lora Johnson is one of seven people in trial - all of whom deny wilful obstruction of a highway
A Southwold woman is among a group of seven Just Stop Oil activists who have gone on trial accused of blocking a road in London last year.
38 year old Lora Johnson is accused of wilful obstruction of a highway along with Benjamin Larsen, 25, Ben Sansam, 38, Anna Retallack, 58, Stephen Jarvis, 66, Sheila Shatford, 67, and Rachel Payne, 71 - all deny the charges.
Body-worn video from a Metropolitan Police constable who attended the south Kensington demonstration was played at Westminster Magistrates' Court on the first day of the trial
The group of seven were among 17 people who sat on the junction of Cromwell Road and Exhibition Road in central London on October 19, causing traffic queues in both directions on the dual carriageway, the court heard.
It marked the 19th consecutive day of disruption in the capital caused by Just Stop Oil.
Body-worn footage from Met Police constable Daniel Woodley, who attended the scene, was shown in court on Tuesday morning.
It showed a woman approach the constable as he walked between queueing vehicles, telling him: "I'm a nurse waiting to do swabs on a VIP, do you mind if I do a U-ey (U-turn)?"
Pc Woodley said the nurse had been on her way to attend a 90-year-old patient who was "in desperate need of care" - however, Retallack, who was self-representing, contested this.
Retallack said the nurse had mentioned an elderly patient, and the officer had confused her with another motorist who complained of being late to a "meeting" with a 90-year-old.
The bodycam footage was played twice in court, showing that the nurse did not reference a 90-year-old patient.
Several motorists were shown asking the officer what was causing the delay, including a lorry driver who told him: "They're a pain, can't you run them over or something?", to which Pc Woodley replied: "We cannot do that."
Speaking about the public's reaction to the protest, Pc Woodley said: "They were very stressed out, there were a lot of grievances.
"There was one incident where I was nearly run over by a vehicle, there was a driver who was very stressed...
"There was a nurse who was going to look after a 90-year-old woman who was in desperate need of care."
Police sergeant Kevin Nelson, who led the Met's response to the demonstration, told the court that when his team arrived at 10am, there was a traffic queue of "a least a few hundred yards" in each direction.
The Met sergeant of 16 years said that each defendant except Johnson had glued themselves to the road, and that all seven were arrested between 10.29am and 10.38am.
Sgt Nelson acknowledged that Just Stop Oil typically ensure that some members are not glued to the ground so that they can assist the safe passage of emergency vehicles.
He added that he was not aware of any ambulances being delayed by the October 19 demonstration.
Sgt Nelson described four motorists at the scene who expressed "frustration", including a van driver who asked the demonstrators: "Have you not got jobs?", and a bus driver who "was pleading" with them to move.
He added though that in policing terms "the protest was not proportional to disruption to the local community".
When asked by Simon Natas, representing Johnson, whether there were also people at the scene who supported the protest, Sgt Nelson said he believed there would have been, but they tended "not to be as vocal".
Johnson, a campaigner and former chef living in Brislington, Bristol, said she joined the protest because she does not believe her seven-year-old son has a "liveable future".
She told the court: "We lost 50% of our potato harvest last year, we had 40 degree heat, we had birds falling from the sky, we had wildfires and the worst year (for fires) since the blitz...
"We want the Government to listen to 99% of the world's scientists, who are saying stop licensing new oil and gas, and for tax to be paid by the fossil fuel industry.
"If the Government is ignoring its own scientists, they are not going to listen to (lawful) protests.
"How do I look my son in the eye when he tells me what he wants to be when he grows up, knowing that if we don't stop this now, he won't have a chance to have a liveable future?"
Johnson added that they staged the protest close to the Natural History Museum as "a very important place to ring an alarm bell to help save the natural world".
Retallack, who worked as a social worker for decades before becoming an upholsterer based in Falmouth, Cornwall, said she felt obliged to take disruptive action because "all legal forms of protest are a complete waste of time".
She said: "We had some really amazing, positive interactions with the public that day, and we wouldn't have had those interactions if we had have sat on the side of the road."
Jarvis, from Bideford, Devon, added: "Our actions have borne fruit in that both the Labour Party and the Lib Dems have included not licensing new oil and gas as part of their manifestos.
"So at least half of the political landscape is now listening. That provides some indication that what we're doing, although it might be against the law, is on the right side of history."
District Judge Laws said the prosecution and defence both agree that "there is a climate emergency" and that raising awareness about this was the "genuine motivation" for the protest.
Prosecutor Jason Seetal said: "The Crown accept that the issue that they were protesting about is an important issue".
The two-day trial continues.