Angry Brits protesting the high price of fuel have caused delays across the country’s A-road and motorway network, leading to multiple arrests.
Trucks, vans, cars, and even tractors formed rolling roadblocks in England, Wales, and Scotland in an attempt to get their respective governments to do something about the cost of petrol and diesel, which is currently just under £2 per liter ($9 per U.S. gallon).
Police made at least 12 arrests for public order offenses close to the Prince of Wales bridge, which carries the M4 motorway from England to Wales across the River Severn after protestors managed to close it in both directions.
The Guardian reports that protestors even managed to hold an informal soccer match on one section of the motorway after traffic was brought to a standstill. And police deployed a stinger tire-deflation device across the exit of Ferrybridge services to prevent more vehicles from joining the protest convoy, though no vehicles actually ran over it.
Related: Are Soaring Fuel Costs Making You Drive More Slowly?
The protesters have also targeted major two-lane A-roads, but the BBC says most of the go-slow action is centered on three-lane motorways where the convoy vehicles crawl along at 30 mph (48 km/h), in theory leaving the third, overtaking, lane free.
The chaos was partly instigated by the people behind a Facebook event called Stand Up To Fuel Prices, which claimed British people were doing plenty of moaning about the cost of fuel but taking no action.
“An awful lot of moaning About Fuel Prices and not enough action. Typical of Britain. Complain while we roll over and take it,” says the description on the Facebook page, which has almost 58,000 responses.
“So why not get the whole country on Monday the 4th of July from 6AM to take our cars, lorries, tractors what ever we have and cause roadblocks all over the country until there is change?”