Just Stop Oil supporters are commencing their eighth week of daily action in the capital to demand that the UK Government halt all licences and consents for new oil, gas and coal projects. [1]
At around 8am, 65 Just stop Oil supporters in four groups began marching on roads around Lambeth, Victoria and Earls Court. Public Order Act (Section 12) notices were placed on all the marches by 8:46am, including one march which was halted by police after only 5 minutes. Further marches are expected later this morning. Just Stop Oil has been marching at least six days a week since the 24th April.
One of those on the road this morning, Sanjiv Chadha, 48, an electrician from Ipswich, said:
“I am an ordinary person being forced to do something extraordinary because of the inaction of our government. I will not stand by and do nothing as my country contributes to a crisis that will cause suffering for billions around the world. Our government has lied to us. They signed the Paris accord into law and committed to keeping us below 1.5 degrees of warming above pre industrial levels.”
“Since that time they have continued to licence new fossil fuel projects which are the major contributor to the very crisis they have committed to mitigate. Now we’re predicted to smash past the 1.5 degree target before 2027. That means death, displacement, famine and war on an unimaginable scale. This must stop and I have come to march in London to send a message…not in my name!”
Another of those on the road this morning, Rebecca Stonehill, 45, an author & teacher from Norwich, said:
“I am a mother of three teenage children. I want them to live in a safe world free of hunger and conflict, but our government’s draconian insistence to push ahead with new fossil fuel licences will ensure that this will not be the reality for them, nor for millions of others around the world.”
“I am taking action with Just Stop Oil because history has shown time and again that when enough people come together to oppose harmful, outdated and out of touch policy; lasting change can happen. Look at the abolitionist and suffrage movements, which nobody would question now; new laws around these were not passed in a vacuum, but rather because of ordinary people engaging in direct action and demanding change.”
“If I could speak directly to Rishi Sunak, I would say this to him: ‘Nobody is immune to this rapidly escalating emergency, not even you, your wife and your daughters, Krishna and Anoushka. How will you be able to look them in the eye in the years to come when they know that you still had time to do the right thing and halt all new fossil fuel licences?”
Meanwhile, Scottish wildfires have now been burning for over two weeks. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has issued a Scotland-wide warning of a “very high” wildfire risk. UK fire chiefs have announced that they plan to set up new Mediterranean-style specialist units to deal with the increased risk after more than 90 buildings were destroyed by wildfires close to urban areas last July. Chief Fire Officer Paul Hedley, wildfire lead for the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), said the risk and threat of such major wildfires was “clearly growing in the UK”. [2][3]
Since the Just Stop Oil campaign launched on 14th February 2022, there have been 2,200 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. Ordinary people must come together to resist this criminal government and hold them to account for their genocidal policies. [4][5]
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.
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65848872
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-65820475
[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/
