Three Just Stop Oil supporters who participated in a slow march at Vauxhall in 2023 to demand an end to new oil and gas were today found guilty of breaching police conditions imposed on their march. [1]
On 15th June 2023, William Ward, Christopher Grove and David Kearns participated in a slow march at Vauxhall to demand an immediate end to new oil and gas licensing, a demand that has since been adopted as policy by the Labour government. [2][3]
The action happened on the day after new regulations came into force giving police officers greater powers to shut down protests. The regulations were later found to have been introduced illegally by then Home Secretary Suella Braverman. It was judged that she had acted outside her powers, had overreached in defining “serious disruption” as merely “more than minor” and that it had been wrong to consult only with law enforcement agencies about the repercussions of the change. [4][5]
Today the trio appeared before Judge Balmain at City of London Magistrates Court accused of a breach of Section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 Regulations 2023 as they were said to have caused ‘more than minor disruption’. They were found guilty and given a conditional discharge of 12 months and £333 costs.
William Ward, 67, a retired engineer from Surrey said:
“One day, very soon people will look back and say that the law got it wrong; why did they waste time prosecuting peaceful people for taking action to prevent billions of deaths and enormous suffering? Time is short and the government needs to come clean and admit to the public how bad our situation is. They need to get on with the job of cutting oil and gas demand through common sense, cost effective measures like insulating our homes, building more renewables and investing in public transport.
I hold my head up high that I did the right thing for my three grandchildren and the millions of vulnerable people already suffering from the consequences of unchecked fossil fuel burning throughout the world.”
In the 20 months since they took action, global heating has continued to accelerate and the world shows no signs of reducing fossil fuel burning.
Just last month, 2024 was confirmed as the warmest year on record and the first to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the annual global average temperature. Last week, January 2025 was confirmed as the hottest January on record at 1.75C above the pre-industrial level, according to European space agency Copernicus. [6]
In 2024 Just Stop Oil successfully won its original demand of ‘no new oil and gas’. Now the courts agree that new oil and gas is unlawful. Just Stop Oil supporters are on the right side of history and non-violent civil resistance works. Just Stop Oil will once again be stepping into action this April to demand that governments commit to an international treaty to phase out the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. You can help make this happen by coming to a talk and signing up for action at juststopoil.org.
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
[1] Just Stop Oil is committed to nonviolent direct action to resist the destruction of our communities as a result of climate breakdown. We do not consent to plans that will result in 3C of warming and mass death.
We demand an emergency plan to Just Stop Oil by 2030. Our government must work with other governments to end the extraction and burning of all oil, gas and coal by 2030.
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.
We take all possible steps to ensure that no-one’s safety is compromised by our actions.
[2] 15 June 2023: Nine arrests as Just Stop Oil supporters ignore illegitimate new law – Just Stop Oil Press Release
https://juststopoil.org/2023/06/15/nine-arrests-as-just-stop-oil-supporters-ignore-illegitimate-new-law/
[3] 15 June 2023: Just Stop Oil activists arrested as new police dispersal law comes into force– The Standard
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/police-just-stop-oil-london-albert-embankment-vauxhall-bridge-b1088083.html
[4] 15 June 2023: How police in England can now stop basically any protest- Open Democracy
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/police-powers-ban-protest-laws-suella-braverman/
[5] 21 May 2024: Suella Braverman acted unlawfully by making it easier to criminalise protests, court rules – The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/21/new-police-powers-for-protests-unlawful-high-court-rules
[6] 7 February 2025: Hottest January on record called ‘terrifying’ by climate scientists after defying expectations – The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/hottest-january-record-global-warming-climate-change-b2693479.html
