A further 137 people were arrested this week during a series of actions disrupting oil terminals and petrol stations in support of Just Stop Oil’s demand that the UK government end new oil and gas projects in the UK.
This brings the total number of arrests since the campaign began on April 1st to 1,296.
Several of those who took action this week have already appeared in court for allegedly breaking one of the many injunctions that have been imposed around oil terminals across the UK as a result of Just Stop Oil actions.
Today, however, North Warwickshire council announced that it was no longer pursuing its case against 11 people who were arrested at Kingsbury on Tuesday and Wednesday. The case is not being called because of confusion and lack of clarity about the details of the alleged injunction breach. People from Just Stop Oil have already spent time in prison this year as a result of standing peacefully on a grass verge outside the Kingsbury Oil Terminal, so this is a significant victory. [1]
Five people appeared at the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday for actions taken at Thurrock on Tuesday. All have been bailed to reappear on 1st September 2022. This includes Dr Patrick Hart, 36, a Bristol based GP who took action alongside his parents. [2] Also in court yesterday was Steven Jarvis, 66, a retired plumber from Devon who said:
“I’m taking action because this government seems determined to drive us ever deeper into the climate crisis and destroy our futures by licensing more oil extraction, so their mates in the oil industry can continue making obscene profits at the expense of ordinary working people.”
“When the climate crisis and cost of living crisis is caused by oil, the solution is not more oil. We need to cancel all new fossil fuel licences and pivot to renewables and home insulation. If you care about your children’s future then stand up to this madness and come and join us outside parliament on October 1st”
Three of the people who built and occupied tunnels near Kingsbury Oil Terminal this week appeared in Birmingham Crown Court yesterday. The case was adjourned until 31st August. [3]
Stephanie Aylett, 28, from St Albans who was one of the people occupying a tunnel at Kingsbury said:
“We are staying strong and resolute in our demand that this government immediately halts all new licenses and consents for new oil and gas projects, because oil is killing us.
“Join us on the 1st October in Parliament Square with many other movements: unions, Black Lives Matter, Christian Climate Action and more. Thousands of us will come together to resist – the cost of living crisis, the energy crisis – and these corrupt, lying politicians who care more about profits than people.”
John Jordan, 25, a former energy salesperson from Wexford, Ireland who also spend days in a tunnel at Kingsbury said:
“The government is planning to approve over 40 new oil and gas projects by 2025. This amounts to mass murder of the poor and vulnerable everywhere. We have to stop them and that is exactly what we are planning to do. Join us, it’s time to step into civil resistance to defend your community.”
As further evidence of state overreach we understand that 2 journalists including award-winning photographer Peter Macdiarmid, 57, have been arrested this week whilst covering Just Stop Oil actions. [4]
Just Stop Oil continues to resist the government’s plans to greenlight 46 new oil and gas projects by 2025 and its failure to address skyrocketing energy bills, as Ofgem today announced a massive increase in electricity bills for October which will push millions more into poverty, forced to choose between heating and eating.[5]
This is the moment to come together and resist. We are not prepared to just watch while they destroy everything we love. We’re done with begging. Voting has changed nothing. We are going to stop new oil whether those in power agree or not. As citizens, as humans, as parents and children we have every right under British law to protect ourselves and those we love. This is the moment, we are the last generation that can solve this. Will you step up and join us? If we all come together we can do this. We can Just Stop Oil.
ENDS
Photo credit: George Cracknell Wright/LNP
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Notes to Editors
[1] https://juststopoil.org/2022/05/06/fourteen-in-prison-for-demanding-liveable-planet/
[2] https://juststopoil.org/2022/08/25/the-good-doctor/
[3] Callum Goode, Stephanie Aylett, and John Jordan
[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-62633742
About Just Stop Oil
Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to demand that the government immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.
We must urgently end our reliance on fossil fuels to avoid irreversible changes in the earth’s climate system. We cannot continue to burn fossil fuels in the belief that future developments in carbon capture and storage and other so-called “unicorn technologies” will allow us to suck vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The UK must begin this process immediately. It starts by calling a halt to any further fossil fuel projects on the UK Continental Shelf. That would give us eight years of fossil fuel production left in which to rapidly transition to a zero carbon economy.
Everyone knows we have to engage in massive changes. Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups demanding the no-brainer things be done immediately – actions that will reduce the demand for fossil fuel energy dramatically such as insulating our homes, rethinking how we travel, getting on with renewable energy and making sure no-one is left behind.
We either come together as humanity or we die. Youth know which they choose. They have already chosen. They are in the streets to demand a future. We are all in the streets to make sure they get it. It’s as basic as that.
Further information about Just Stop Oil and our demands here: https://www.juststopoil.org
