Just Stop Oil supporters are on the road in their fifth week marching to the point of arrest . They are demanding that the UK government immediately halt all future licences and consents for fossil fuel exploration in the UK. [1]
At around 12:35 pm today, two Just Stop Oil supporters began marching on the pavement from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square. The two entered the road outside Downing Street and were immediately arrested.
Just Stop Oil has issued an open call to the public and to all concerned parties to march together in defiance of this criminal government. This has been inspired by demonstrations in the Netherlands, where repeated road disruptions and continued pressure on the police, has forced the Dutch parliament to vote to end fossil fuel subsidies. [2]
A Just Stop Oil Spokesperson said:
“This past couple of weeks we have seen Just Stop Oil supporters repeatedly arrested in seconds for attempting to march near parliament. Such is the nature of freedom of speech and the right to protest in the UK in 2023. We have sleep-walked into a police state. Our politicians have been bought by big business and the oil lobby, and the police and courts are complicit in enabling the criminals in charge to sign our death warrants by licensing new oil and gas.”
“In the face of oncoming societal collapse, which will be brought about through widespread crop failure, Just Stop Oil supporters will not be bullied out of taking necessary and proportionate action. Our leaders have gone completely off the rails. We will not comply with a system that is destroying our entire way of life and everything we value. Police- it’s time you stopped arresting grandmothers and started arresting the real criminals in government.”
One of those marching today, 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 and gas. 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.”
Yesterday six marched at Parliament Square and were immediately arrested. Four of these have been held for court and will appear at Highbury Magistrates today.
There have been 639 arrests of Just Stop Oil supporters since October 30th. There are currently nine Just Stop Oil supporters in prison, seven of whom have been imprisoned, without trial, for peacefully marching in the road. They are Cressie Gethin (21), Noah Crane (18), Ella Ward (20), Ruby Hamill (19), Chiara Sarti (24), Phoebe Plummer (22) and Christopher Ford (46). They join Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, who have been imprisoned for over a year and were sentenced to 3 years and 2 years 7 months respectively, in the longest sentences ever awarded for peaceful direct action. [3][4][5][6]
Continued expansion of new oil and gas will bring about the wholesale destruction of ordered society and an end to the rule of law. We are not prepared to watch while the government continues to serve the interests of a few, at the expense of everyone else. It’s up to all of us to come together and resist. It is the will of the overwhelming majority of people that we take the actions necessary to ensure our survival and together we can make it happen.
People are marching every day from Trafalgar Square at 12pm, to bring an end to new oil and gas. Our government is waging war on its people, and we’re fighting back. They’re imprisoning peaceful protestors, protecting the real criminals, and licensing more than 100 new oil and gas projects while everything burns. We’re coming together to demand an end to new oil and gas. It’s not a case of ‘if’ we will win; but ‘when’.
ENDS
Press contact: 07762 987334
Press email: [email protected]
High quality images & video here:https://juststopoil.org/press-media
Website: https://juststopoil.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustStopOil/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/just.stopoil/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil
Youtube: https://juststopoil.org/youtube
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.
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.
[3] https://juststopoil.org/2023/11/16/we-wont-let-them-get-away-with-mass-murder-for-the-sake-of-greed/
[5] https://juststopoil.org/2023/11/20/a-week-in-resistance-with-cressie/
