Watch: Paramedic rushing to 'life-and-death' emergency begs police to clear Just Stop Oil protesters

Telegraph ^ | November 8, 2023 | Ewan Somerville

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Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkyAGOPiino

Sixty activists from the eco group slow-marched on Waterloo Bridge on Wednesday, causing the busy carriageway to be shut in both directions

A paramedic responding to a “life-and-death” emergency begged police to let him through a Just Stop Oil protest.

Sixty activists from the eco group spent 30 minutes slow-marching on Waterloo Bridge on Wednesday morning, causing the busy carriageway to be shut in both directions for an hour.

An ambulance soon arrived with blue lights and sirens but was held up in the gridlocked traffic for about 10 minutes.

The driver of the ambulance told The Telegraph: “I am responding to a life-and-death emergency - I am going to pick up a team from Guy’s hospital to save someone’s life at another hospital but can’t get through.”

He pleaded with police officers to let him through on multiple occasions as he became increasingly angry. Officers said they were working to let him through as quickly as they could as activists lay on the ground in the central reservation.

The paramedic was from the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Retrieval Team, a unit responsible for a temporary life support system for people whose lungs have stopped working properly.

Guy’s is one of just five centres that treat acute severe cardiorespiratory failure in adults in England.

Waterloo Bridge remained closed to traffic almost two hours after the protest began, as activists said they “refused to comply” with officers and had to be dragged into police vans one by one from the central reservation.

A second ambulance then arrived on blue lights and sirens at 10.45am, stopping to assess the gridlocked traffic before taking a diversion down the Strand.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Spray them with diesel...on the legs.