Just Stop Oil supporters are commencing their fourth week of marching every day in central London. Just Stop Oil is demanding an end to any new fossil fuel projects in the UK. [1]
At 8am, 26 Just Stop Oil supporters began marching along Goswell Road in the City of London. Police attended from 8:25am and are likely to issue a Public Order Act (Section 12) notice shortly. Further marches are expected later this morning. Just Stop Oil supporters have been marching in the capital, every day since the 24th of April.
One of those taking action this morning, Cat Scothorne, 20, a history student from Glasgow, said:
“I’m taking action with Just Stop Oil because the government doesn’t care about us, it doesn’t care about the millions of people it harms through its expansion of expensive and deadly fossil fuels, it only cares about profit and power. Things don’t have to be this way; let’s heat everyone’s homes, feed everyone’s kids and avoid the mass murder that is climate disaster.”
“The billionaire-owned press companies are lying and distracting us from what’s really going on- that is climate disaster and massive profiteering by oil companies, while millions face starvation, poverty and displacement. The wealthy elite rely on us ignoring our power and being passive. We have to stand for a better world.”
Another of those taking action Julie Redman, 72, a grandmother of seven from Fife, said:
“I’m in despair about the climate crisis. It is accelerating at an alarming pace and yet our government is still giving out new licences for oil, gas and coal. It is my grandchildren who will bear the brunt of climate breakdown and I want to be able to tell them that I did everything I could to prevent climate catastrophe.”
These marches occur against a backdrop of increasingly frequent extreme weather events occurring across the globe. Torrential rain led to flash flooding in Rwanda and Uganda. Landslides in Rwanda have led to 127 deaths, 5,100 properties destroyed, and a further 2,500 partially damaged. In Myanmar, thousands have been evacuated as Cyclone Mocha, the North Indian Ocean’s strongest storm on record, rips through the country. In Western Canada, 30,000 Alberta residents have been evacuated as wildfires have burned down nearly one million acres, since they began over a week ago. [2][3][4][5]
This comes as a new report has revealed the UK could unlock £70bn every year by generating enough clean electricity to become a major exporter of energy to mainland Europe. The analysis by former government economist Chris Walker for the UK Business Council for Sustainable Development, warns that Britain could miss this “once in a lifetime opportunity” unless government policymakers remove the barriers holding back the UK’s green energy ambitions. [6]
Since the Just Stop Oil campaign launched on 14th February 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 serving three year prison sentences for resisting new oil, gas and coal.
We stand with these political prisoners, with the 1,800 victims of the UK’s 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. Normal people must come together to resist these criminal governments and hold them to account for their genocidal policies. [5][6]
Just Stop Oil is calling on everyone to get off the sidelines and join in civil resistance against new oil, gas and coal.
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 makes a meaningful statement halting new fossil fuel projects in the UK.
Join Just Stop Oil on a slow march at midday every Saturday, at Parliament Square until we win.
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.
Just Stop Oil ‘Blue Lights’ policy: our policy is, and has always been, to move out of the way for emergency vehicles with siren sounding and ‘blue lights’ on.
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/world/canada/canada-alberta-wildfires.html
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/15/uk-could-unlock-70bn-a-year-in-renewable-energy-report-claims?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
[7] 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/
[8] 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/
