An interim injunction has been granted preventing protesters occupying the A20 and roads linked to the Port of Dover.
It comes after another day of chaos and disruption by environmentalist group Insulate Britain.
It comes after Kent Police arrested 39 people when activists of the Extinction Rebellion offshoot sat down on roads in and out of the cross-Channel ferry port at about 8.20am today.
The demonstration created long queues of vehicles, with several drivers remonstrating with the activists.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘We are absolutely committed to protecting the right to peaceful protest, but it is unacceptable that people cannot go about their day-to-day businesses and that businesses or critical supplies should be put on a knife’s edge because of the reckless actions of a few protesters.’
Those who breach the injunction, granted to National Highways, will be in contempt of court and at risk of imprisonment and an unlimited fine, the Government said.
The injunction request came after the group blocked parts of the M25 five times in the past fortnight, much to the ire of motorists and passengers caught up in miles of snaking traffic.
A court order was granted to stop them blockading the busy motorway circling London, but they then worked their way around it and sat on the road outside the Home Office on Wednesday.
Police said officers made 39 arrests today as protesters blocked the A20 today. On Twitter Shapps wrote: ‘We won’t tolerate reckless behaviour on motorways or ports.
‘I’m therefore seeking a further injunction to prevent this disruption.’
The protest group apologised for the disruption but said it was ‘the only way to keep the issue of insulation on the agenda and to draw attention to how poorly insulated homes are causing ill health, misery and early death for many thousands of people’.
Insulate Britain has called for better insulation of UK homes in order to cut emissions and energy costs.
Britain is facing a spike in natural gas prices that is likely to cause home heating prices to soar as it heads into winter.
The Dover blockade comes amid disruption to supplies across the UK due largely to a shortage of truck drivers, in part due to Covid and Brexit.
Supermarkets have reported a shortage of some goods, and a handful of petrol stations have closed.
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