Just Stop Oil supporters have blocked Commercial Street in London’s East End. They are demanding that the government halts all new oil and gas licences and consents. [1]
At 12:15pm today, 15 Just Stop Oil supporters walked onto Commercial Street, near Spitalfields market and sat down holding banners. A number have locked onto each other and some have glued onto the tarmac.
Hazel Agombar , 53, a mother of three and charity worker from Winchester said:
“I’ve spent 15 years “soft” campaigning on the climate crisis. I’ve got to the point now where I feel driven to take direct action. I would never have believed that I – a quiet middle age woman – would find myself preparing for action that will likely lead to my arrest. But the time has arrived. The situation is so serious.
Thank goodness for Just Stop Oil – an amazing group of ordinary people not willing to accept Government inaction. I wouldn’t be here without them. At first my friends thought I was crazy, but they also fear the climate crisis and feel helpless. So this is for them – and everyone’s friends.”
Mat Osmond, 57, a father of three and university lecturer from Falmouth said
“What terrifies me about this crisis is how normalised it’s become. I’m taking action with Just Stop Oil because I can see no other way to confront the obscenity of our governments, and all of us, still choosing to act as if none of this was real.”
“Every day now I hear people telling themselves it’s already too late to stop runaway global heating. It’s never too late to act as if the lives of others matter. That’s all the certainty we need. If even one in ten of us who already know what runaway global heating means for human societies took up civil resistance with Just Stop Oil and their allies, there’d be no stopping us.”
Just Stop Oil continues to peacefully resist the government’s plans to licence over 100 new oil and gas projects by 2025, and its failure to fulfil its promise to help people with their skyrocketing energy bills. Policy failures that will force millions into poverty and facing a choice between heating, eating, or providing the basic essentials for themselves and their families.
Today’s roadblock follows four weeks of continuous civil resistance by supporters of Just Stop Oil during which the police have made 626 arrests. Since the campaign began on April 1st, Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested over 1,900 times, with 6 supporters currently in prison.[2]
This is not a one day event, expect us every day and anywhere. This is an act of resistance against a criminal government and their genocidal death project. Our supporters will be returning – today, tomorrow and the next day – and the next day after that – and every day until our demand is met: no new oil and gas in the UK.
We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence peaceful people. Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities.
Stand with our supporters in prison, with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives. We will not die silently, it will be ordinary people, like you, your friends, colleagues and neighbours who do what our government cannot. It will take all of us. [3]
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
[1] 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. Just Stop Oil is a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects. Climate Emergency Fund is Just Stop Oil’s primary funder for recruitment, training, and capacity building.
[2] There are now 6 Just Stop Oil supporters in prison on remand or serving sentences for taking action to demand that the government halts new oil and gas licences. They are Joshua Smith, Louis McKechnie, Simon Milner-Edwards, Michelle Charlesworth, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker. Also in prison are Scott Breen for taking action against the Southampton to Heathrow pipeline and Elliott Cuciurean for taking action against HS2
[3] A recent report from Global Witness says that more than 1,700 people have died while trying to prevent mining, oil drilling or logging on their lands.
