Just Stop Oil supporters are slow-marching on key roads around London for the fifth consecutive day, to demand an end to new fossil fuel projects in the UK. [1]
At 8am today, 64 Just Stop Oil supporters began marching from three different locations in Ealing, Putney and Mile End. Previous days’ marches, which have concentrated on key roads in Westminster and Lambeth, have caused significant disruption and yesterday prompted police to issue Public Order Act (S12) notices to remove Just Stop Oil supporters from the roads.
The continuing campaign comes on the heels of an announcement yesterday by the Home Secretary that Police will be given the power to break up “slow walking” protests under new legislation, after her proposed amendment to the Public Order Bill was blocked by the House of Lords in December. This is to be introduced under secondary legislation in order to bypass the democratic parliamentary process. [2]
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
“People marching to protect their rights, lives and livelihoods is a time honoured method of resistance. We are doing what the Suffragettes did and what the Civil Rights movements did.
It’s what everyone does when the inalienable right to life and a livelihood are violated – they engage in direct action. It is an act of self respect, an act of solidarity, an act of necessity.”
“We won’t be deterred by changes to protest laws or how strongly the police enforce those laws. Just Stop Oil supporters understand that this is irrelevant when we face mass starvation, mass death and the collapse of ordered human society.”
“So do your worst Suella Braverman. But understand this: you and the Government of which you are a part will go down in history as cowards who did not have the guts to look reality in the face. You will go down in history as criminals who consigned millions of people to a future of starvation, misery and death, because you did not face up to your responsibility to protect and lead.”
Tomorrow, Just Stop Oil supporters plan to march from Parliament Square to the Home Office to show solidarity with the UK’s political prisoners including Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, wrongly imprisoned for resisting the government’s genocidal plans to licence over 100 new oil and gas projects by 2025. Once at the Home Office, supporters will join the Black Lives Matter ‘Shut it Down’ rally and march to Downing Street. [3]
One of those taking action today, Richard Clark, 49, a teacher from Cornwall said:
“The social contract is broken: politics is broken. I tried for decades to use these democratic processes to make a positive difference, with little impact.”
“The government and their paymasters are engaged in a genocidal attack on the young and those least responsible for climate breakdown around the world. I will support those fighting our corrupt and wanton system, even risking my own freedom and livelihood as a teacher.”
Since the Just Stop Oil campaign began on April 1st 2022, there have been over 2,100 arrests and 138 people have spent time in prison, many without trial. There are currently two Just Stop Oil supporters and four Insulate Britain supporters serving prison sentences for resisting new oil, gas and coal.
We stand with these political prisoners, with the 1,800 victims of our broken criminal justice system, imprisoned for over a year without trial, and with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives. This is the moment for us to come together and resist the destruction of everything we love, something that is being imposed on us by a few, who only seek to enrich themselves. [4][5]
In moments of emergency, we must stand up and be brave, we must stand up for good over evil, life over death, right over wrong. Just Stop Oil is calling on everyone to pick a side. We need everyone to get off the sidelines and join in civil resistance against new oil and gas.
The time is now. Join us and slow march while you still can. Our indefinite campaign of civil resistance is underway and will not end until our government ends new oil, gas and coal.
Join Just Stop Oil on a slow march from 7am every weekday and midday every Saturday, at Parliament Square until we win. [6]
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] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/climate-protest-slow-walking-police-b2328346.html
[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/CqNt2RoIXoD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
[4] Fair Trials reports that the number of people being held in prison without trial in England and Wales is at its highest for over 50 years, with 1,800 people in prison without trial for at least a year. https://www.fairtrials.org/articles/news/highest-number-of-people-on-remand-in-england-and-wales-for-over-50-years/
[5] 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. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/deadly-decade-land-and-environmental-activists-killing-every-two-days/
[6] Excluding May 6th.
