180 Just Stop Oil activists served injunctions after month of chaos
More than 180 eco-zealots are served with injunctions after month of Just Stop Oil chaos: High Court judge orders activists to stop blocking roads in London after application by TfL which said protests were ‘risk to life’
- Judge has ordered more than 180 eco zealots not to block roads in London following month-long protests
- Move follows intensification of Just Stop Oil protests after the coalition group launched a month of mayhem
- Stunts in October include tomato soup thrown over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery
- Eco activists scaled the QE2 bridge in Dartford and there have been numerous angry clashes with motorists
A High Court judge has ordered more than 180 eco zealots not to block roads in London following the intensification of Just Stop Oil protests after the coalition launched a month of chaos.
The eco mob has caused mayhem this October as it staged protests across London including blocking bridges, roads, roundabouts, as well as carrying out stunts including throwing soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting and spraying orange paint over car showrooms, department stores and government buildings.
Mr Justice Freedman granted injunctions at a High Court hearing in London after an application by Transport for London (TfL), which said protests were a ‘risk to life’.
Just Stop Oil’s Calendar of CHAOS: From throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers to scaling the QE2 Bridge, how eco activists demonstrated throughout October
October 1 – Activists occupied Waterloo, Westminster, Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges, causing gridlock on busy roads, before converging on Parliament.
October 2 – Hundred of protesters occupied London bridges as they brought the capital to a standstill for a second day, with 31 people arrested.
October 3 – Monday saw a much quieter day with no major demonstrations but Just Stop Oil released a statement in which it declared Westminster ‘a site of nonviolent civil resistance until the government commits to end new oil and gas’.
October 4 – 54 eco-activists were arrested, including many who had ‘glued themselves to the ground’ during a demonstration to block traffic into Parliament Square.
October 5 – 28 protesters were arrested when they blocked and glued themselves to the road to Lambeth Bridge and another close to Parliament.
October 6 – Protesters blocked roads in Trafalgar Square, with 32 demonstrators sitting down and gluing themselves to the tarmac before being removed and arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway.
October 7 – 25 demonstrators blocked routes to the north and south of Vauxhall Bridge, sitting down with banners and glueing themselves to the roads.
October 8 – Around 40 supporters established roadblocks on three roads adjacent to the A501, resulting in severe disruption on Marylebone Road, Edgware Road, Gloucester Place and Station Approach. An angry motorist ripped banners from activists’ hands, telling them to ‘leave the road’.
October 9 – Furious motorists dragged protesters from the roads as they stopped traffic again, resulting in 45 arrests at Piccadilly Circus. One man was filmed clambering on top of a police van and glued himself down to it by the hand.
October 10 – 25 eco-zealots arrested after gluing themselves to each other and roads close to Buckingham Palace, sparking anger from motorists who told them to ‘get a job’.
October 11 – An irate van driver forced his vehicle through a wall of protesters in Knightsbridge as fed-up motorists ripped down banners and dragged activists off the road by hand.
October 12 – 27 people were arrested for public order offences after eco-warriors blocked the roads around Parliament Square.
October 13 – Frustrations boiled during a furious bust-up between drivers and activists after they blocked routes around St George’s Circus in Southwark, which is located between Lambeth North and Elephant and Castle Underground stations. One frustrated woman asked the group: ‘I have a disabled child who needs to go to school, why are you doing this to people?’
October 14 – Two activists arrested for throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery. Anna Holland, 20, Phoebe Plummer, 21, threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the £76m painting before gluing themselves to a wall inside the gallery.
October 15 – Furious drivers dragged protesters out of the road and begged them to move as they blocked Shoreditch High Street – stopping a fire truck from getting through. At least 26 people were arrested after police arrived to unglue and remove protestors.
October 16 – Activists sprayed paint over an Aston Martin showroom as they blocked off Park Lane. A furious cab driver hauled protesters out the way as a fellow motorist shouted: ‘People have got f****** work to go to’ while another added ‘people are trying to go to hospital’.
October 17 – Just Stop Oil was responsible for the QE2 Bridge at Dartford on the M25 being closed all day after two activists ascended 275ft masts. Morgan Trowland, 39, and Marcus Carambola, 33, scaled the bridge linking Essex to Kent, forcing police to stop traffic.
October 18 – The two protesters who were suspended from the QE2 bridge were removed and arrested by police. The crossing finally reopened after 36 hours as the two men agreed to co-operate with officers and come down. The same day, a motorist yelled at officers for doing nothing as Just Stop Oil ‘idiots waste my time’ as they blocked the A4 into London during rush hour.
October 19 – Another roadblock was in place the next morning, resulting in 25 arrests after traffic was stopped on one of London’s busiest road, the A4 Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum.
October 20 – Activists splattered Harrods in paint before blocking all traffic outside the Knightsbridge store. Some 20 supporters of the group glued themselves to Brompton Road, directly outside Harrods, with some using locks to attach themselves together.
October 21 – A frustrated black cab driver told the activists to ‘get a job’ during disruption, before police intervened and made 16 arrests near Holborn.
October 22 – Roughly 20 activists walked into the road in north London and stopped traffic at Upper Street and Islington Green. Some glued themselves onto the tarmac and others used lock-ons. Police arrested 17 protesters for wilful obstruction of the highway.
October 23 – Four protesters were arrested the following day after blocking the iconic Abbey Road crossing in north west London.
October 24 – Police arrested a group of protesters after they threw chocolate cake in the face of a waxwork of King Charles III at Madame Tussauds.
October 25 – Activists sprayed orange paint over the front door of 55 Tufton Street, a building associated with climate change sceptics and Brexit-backing think-tanks.
October 26 – Eco zealots blocked Piccadilly by sitting in the road with banners while three had glued themselves to the tarmac, prompting angry clashes with motorists. Hours earlier, two climate activists were arrested for criminal damage after spraying paint on luxury car showrooms in Berkeley Square.
October 27 – Activists sat on the road on Cannon Street, Queen Victoria Street and Garlick Hill in the City of London to demand the government end all new licences for oil and gas production.
October 28 – Two protesters were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after spraying orange paint over the premises of Rolex in Knightsbridge.
October 29 – Fed-up commuters pleaded with ‘pathetic’ activists to put an end to the chaos after 61 protesters marched through Charing Cross Road, Kensington High Street, Kennington Road and Blackfriars Road with banners, blocking traffic in both directions.
October 30 – Drivers angrily remonstrated with activists sat in the middle of Commercial Street and Hanbury Street in east London, trying to pull them out of the way as one woman shouted that she had a sick child in her car before police arrived at the scene.
October 31 – Six eco activists were arrested for dousing paint from fire extinguishers on the Home Office, the MI5 building, the Bank of England and the headquarters of News Corp at London Bridge.
Another judge had recently made an order against 62 named people. Mr Justice Freedman continued that injunction and made an order against a further 121 named people, bringing the total to 183.
He was told that the names of those 121 people had been given to TfL by the Metropolitan Police after they had been arrested at protests. The judge also made an order against ‘persons unknown’.
Mr Justice Freedman delivered a ruling on Monday after considering evidence at a hearing on Thursday.
Lawyers representing TfL had told him that since the start of October ‘protest activity’ had ‘very largely focused’ on London roads.
They said the ‘deliberate blocking’ of roads caused serious disruption and created a ‘risk to life’.
Earlier in October, Mrs Justice Yip had granted an injunction against 62 named ‘defendants’ and against ‘persons unknown’.
Mrs Justice Yip also made an order saying the Metropolitan Police should ‘disclose’ to TfL the names and addresses of people arrested as a result of protests.
Barrister Andrew Fraser-Urquhart KC, who led TfL’s legal team, told Mr Justice Freedman that the force had disclosed the names of ‘further such people’.
He said that, as of Wednesday last week, 1,900 arrests had been ‘made of Justice Stop Oil protesters’ since the start of April – with 585 made since the start of October.
Mrs Justice Yip’s order barred the blocking of specified roads, or locations, in London.
Mr Justice Freedman barred the blocking of six additional roads, or locations, bringing the total to 23.
Lawyers told Mr Justice Freedman that TfL was a ‘traffic authority’ for ‘important’ roads in Greater London.
People breach civil court injunctions can be found to be in contempt and jailed.
It comes as a member of the public defied police calls to not ‘directly intervene’ with Just Stop Oil eco-zealots today by tackling a protester as they sprayed orange paint across a building using a fire extinguisher.
Video captured the moment the furious passer-by jostled with the climate activist for control of the device and sprayed them with paint as they doused the front of the MI5 building on Millbank in Westminster.
Tez Burns, a 34-year-old bicycle mechanic from Swansea, could be heard saying ‘I don’t want to do this’ but added that their ‘simple’ demand was for ‘no new fossil fuel licenses’ in an expletive-laden exchange with the passer-by this morning.
After the incident, Burns said: ‘The government has taken our future, I want our future back. It’s criminal inaction.
‘The government does nothing. What does it do? It issues new fossil fuel licenses, it says we need to drain every last drop of oil out of the North Sea.
‘That goes against everything that all of these internationally respected bodies are telling us.’
They continued: ‘Here I am, an ordinary person having to do this. You think I like it? No, this is something that I feel is a duty that I have to do as a citizen of the UK, when our government is criminal.
‘I’m devastated. I’m furious.’
Last week, police released a statement pleading with the public to call them to deal with eco-protesters instead of taking matters into their own hands.
So far six eco-activists have been arrested for criminal damage after using fire extinguishers to douse paint on the Home Office and MI5 building, the Bank of England on Threadneedle Street in the City of London and the headquarters of News Corp at London Bridge.
The MI5 building was one of four chosen by the group that they say represent the pillars that support and maintain the power of the fossil fuel economy – government, security, finance and media.
Later, activists sat in the middle of the road on Victoria Street outside the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Three people were arrested on suspicion of obstruction of the highway and taken into custody at a central London police station, with the road re-opening soon after.
The eco group has now staged 31 days of protests across London and the south-east of England as it calls on the government to halt all new oil and gas licences and consents.
A Just Stop Oil spokesman said: ‘We are not prepared to stand by and watch while everything we love is destroyed, while vulnerable people go hungry and fossil fuel companies and the rich profit from our misery.
‘The era of fossil fuels should be long gone, but the creeping tentacles of fossil fuel interests continue to corrupt our politics, government and the media as they have for decades.
‘How else do you explain a government ignoring sensible no-brainer policies like renewables, insulation and public transport, which would cut our energy bills and our carbon emissions, in favour of corrupt schemes to drill for uneconomic oil and gas at taxpayers expense?
‘Well we’re done with begging. We are acting to stop new oil and gas because it is the right thing to do. As citizens, as parents we have every right under British law to protect ourselves and those we love.
‘The government has the power to end the disruption today by agreeing to stop new oil and gas licences and consents.’
Just Stop Oil are demanding that the government halts all new oil and gas licences and consents.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: ‘Six people have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage following protest activity on Monday, 31 October.
‘At around 08:20hrs, Thames House in Millbank was sprayed with paint. Officers responded and made one arrest for criminal damage at 08:45hrs.
‘At around 08:29hrs, the News UK building in London Bridge Street was sprayed with paint. Officers responded and made one arrest for criminal damage at 08:46hrs.
‘At around 08:39hrs, two people sprayed the Home Office in Marsham Street with paint. They were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage by Met officers at 08:41hrs.
‘All those arrested have been taken into custody at a central London police station.
‘City of London Police officers have arrested a further two people who sprayed the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street at around 08:30hrs.’
Yesterday, the group blocked traffic by sitting in two roads in east London, prompting a furious woman to drag one of the eco activists out of the road as raging drivers beeped their horns.
The disruptive activists were seen sitting on Commercial Street and Hanbury Street, near Spitalfields Market, in Whitechapel, at 12.15pm on Sunday.
Drivers angrily remonstrated with them and tried to pull them out of the way, and one woman shouted that she had a sick child in her car before police arrived at the scene.
One man was seen kicking the Just Stop Oil banner away in frustration before narrowly evading them with his car as he drove through the blockade.
October 10: 25 eco-zealots are arrested after gluing themselves to each other and roads close to Buckingham Palace, sparking anger from motorists who told them to ‘get a job’
October 19: A roadblock was put in place resulting in 25 arrests after traffic was stopped on one of London’s busiest road, the A4 Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum.
October 27: Activists sat on the road on Cannon Street, Queen Victoria Street and Garlick Hill in the City of London to demand the government end all new licences for oil and gas production
October 30: Drivers angrily remonstrated with activists sat in the middle of Commercial Street and Hanbury Street in east London, trying to pull them out of the way as one woman shouted that she had a sick child in her car before police arrived at the scene
October 31: Just Stop Oil blockaded Victoria Street in central London, with three people arrested, to mark the end of its month of mayhem during October
Video captured the moment the furious passer-by jostled with the climate activist for control of the device and sprayed them with paint as they doused the front of the MI5 building on Marsham Street in Westminster
A member of the public and a Just Stop Oil protester jostled with a fire extinguisher causing the orange paint to go over them as they attempted to spray the MI5 building this morning
Police intervened after Tez Burns, 34, sprayed orange paint on the exterior of the MI5 building on Marsham Street earlier today
A Just Stop Oil eco-zealot was seen dousing the Home Office in orange spray this morning on day 31 of protests by the group
The headquarters of News Corp – which owns publications including The Sun, The Times and TalkTV – in London Bridge was also targeted by the group. It is the second time the building has been vandalised this year by eco activists
The Bank of England on Threadneedle Street in the City of London was also targeted on the group’s final day of mayhem
Workers begin a clean-up operation after Just Stop Oil activists spray-painted the Home Office on Monday morning
Just Stop Oil said on Twitter: ‘From 12.15pm today, 15 Just Stop Oil supporters have blocked Commerical Street by Spitalfields Market in London. They are demanding that the government halts all new oil and gas licences.’
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said on Friday he ‘understood’ the frustration felt by the public who get caught up in Just Stop Oil protests, but said drivers should ‘call us, and we will deal’ with climate activists.
He warned that motorists taking matter into their own hands could hamper prosecutions, adding that the police must ‘work within the clear legal framework and secure evidence for the offence of highway obstruction’.
”Without this evidence, any prosecution may fail and the offenders will not be held to account for their actions,’ he said.
Mr Twist reassured the public that the force is ‘determined to bring to justice all of those who have caused significant and unreasonable disruption to London, or caused damage to buildings, property or valuables’.
Do not ‘directly intervene’ with Just Stop Oil eco mob, motorists urged by police chief
The Met Police have urged passersby not to take the law into their own hands and ‘directly intervene’ to move protesters.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said on Friday he ‘understood’ the frustration felt by the public who get caught up in Just Stop Oil protests, but said drivers should ‘call us, and we will deal’ with climate activists.
He warned that motorists taking matter into their own hands could hamper prosecutions, adding that the police must ‘work within the clear legal framework and secure evidence for the offence of highway obstruction’.
He also said the force has arrested 651 people while responding to Just Stop Oil protests since October 1, accounting for more than 7,900 officer shifts.
Some 651 people have been arrested since Just Stop Oil protests began on October 1, accounting for more than 7,900 officer shifts, he continued.
Tensions flared on Saturday, the 29th consecutive day of Just Stop Oil demonstrations in London, with fed-up commuters pleading with ‘pathetic’ activists to put an end to the chaos.
At about midday, 61 protesters marched through Charing Cross Road, Kensington High Street, Kennington Road and Blackfriars Road with banners, blocking traffic in both directions.
Some glued their hands to the tarmac while others locked on to one another – sparking concerns of traffic chaos.
At the Kennington demonstration, frustrated motorists dragged protesters off the road in an attempt to make enough room for traffic to flow freely.
‘This is f**king pathetic,’ one person said as he dragged people out of the way.
‘I’ve asked you nicely. There’s people trying to go about their business. For the last time, move.’
Another motorist threatened to ‘crack someone in their f**king face’ if they didn’t move out of the way of his car.
Every time a protester is forcibly dragged from their position on the street, they scurry back to the line at the earliest possible opportunity, sparking mass frustration amongst people unwittingly caught in the chaos.
The latest protest comes amid a month of chaos in London and the wider United Kingdom due to repeated Just Stop Oil demonstrations.
On Friday, two Just Stop Oil activists were arrested after spraying orange paint across a Rolex store in Knightsbridge.
More than 600 activists have been arrested so far in October following a host of stunts, from throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, to scaling the QE2 Bridge and causing more than a dozen major roadblocks.
Other headline grabbing stunts have included blocking Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square, and throwing tomato soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting in the last few weeks.
Workers have been cleaning orange paint off the exterior of the Home Office on Marsham Street, Millkbank, on Monday after Just Stop Oil activists vandalised it at around 08.39am
Just Stop Oil’s Calendar of CHAOS: From throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers to scaling the QE2 Bridge, how eco activists demonstrated throughout October
October 1 – Four bridges gridlocked
Members of the group occupied four bridges in the capital, causing gridlock on busy roads, before converging on Parliament.
Supporters of Just Stop Oil, Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Insulate Britain and others assembled at major rail stations and other locations around the capital before marching to Westminster, where they blocked Waterloo, Westminster, Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges by sitting in the road.
The protests were the start of an ‘October uprising’ revealed in an undercover investigation by The Mail on Sunday.
Just Stop Oil boasted it had ‘brought central London to a standstill’ by blocking four key bridges to Westminster.
‘This is not a one day event. This is not a symbolic day out, this is an act of resistance against this genocidal government’, it said in a statement.
The mob who blocked bridges were eventually moved on by police.
At King’s Cross, former Labour leader Mr Corbyn addressed activists who then set fire to fake energy bills in metal bins in protest at rising gas and electricity prices.
His conspiracy theorist brother Piers – who has mounted counter protests at similar events in the past, claiming global warming is a ‘myth’ – was also spotted in London in his now infamous yellow t-shirt.
Protesters sit down on Waterloo Bridge, blocking the bridge during a protest in London on October 1
October 2 – Waterloo Bridge blockade
Hundreds of protesters, including pensioners, again occupied London bridges and lied down in the middle of the road as they brought the capital to a standstill for a second day.
The Met arrested 31 protesters after they paralysed the City on the second day of the planned month-long campaign of mayhem.
Around 250 people took part in three separate marches departed from Euston, Paddington and Waterloo at around midday.
There was a mass stop and search at Paddington resulting in two arrests as police tried to prevent Just Stop Oil supporters from marching in the road, the coalition said.
Oxford Street, Ludgate Hill and Southampton Row were ‘disrupted’, before the groups met at Covent Garden and went on to ‘block’ Waterloo Bridge by sitting in the road.
Gillian Kelly, 78, a former teacher and psychotherapist, from Cumbria said: ‘I am taking action with Just Stop Oil because I know – and just about everybody knows now – that in order for our children and grandchildren to have a liveable future we have to stop extracting and burning fossil fuels.’
Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters occupying Waterloo Bridge in London on October 2
October 3 – Rallying cry
Following a weekend in which thousands took to the capital, the following Monday saw a much quieter day with no major demonstrations.
Just Stop Oil did, though, release a statement in which it declared Westminster ‘a site of nonviolent civil resistance until the government commits to end new oil and gas’.
A statement added: ‘Our supporters will be returning – today – tomorrow- and the next day – and the next day after that – and every day until our demand is met – no new oil and gas in the UK.
‘We will not stand by while everything we know and love is wilfully destroyed. We do this because it is the right thing to do and so we have a duty, a responsibility to continue.’
Supporters of Just Stop Oil (JSO) disrupt traffic as they march along Whitehall on October 3
October 4 – Parliament Square blockade
Disruption returned on the Tuesday as protesters blocked roads into central London’s Parliament Square.
Some 54 eco-activists were arrested, including many who had ‘glued themselves to the ground’ during the demonstration to block traffic routes into the busy square.
The group had earlier chanted ‘no new oil’ outside Downing Street before marching in the road and blocking all all access to the busy Westminster hub.
Just Stop Oil protests are taking place across Westminster in response to soaring energy bills and plans by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the body that represents the UK’s offshore energy sector, which is hoping to launch a further round of oil and gas licensing this month.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said 54 protesters were being held at stations across London on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.
A statement said: ‘From 11am protesters began to assemble at Richmond Terrace before moving on to Parliament Square.
‘At about 12.10pm, protesters blocked traffic routes into Parliament Square, five of whom glued themselves to the ground.
‘Officers have engaged with protesters and some left the scene. Officers arrested 54 protestors on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.
‘They have been taken into custody at various London police stations where they remain. By approximately 14.30hrs, officers had re-opened access routes to Parliament Square.’
Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters occupying roads around Westminster in central London
October 5 – Lambeth Bridge shut off
The following day, a further 28 protesters were arrested when they blocked and glued themselves to more roads in Westminster before being hauled away by officers.
The activists blocked the road to Lambeth Bridge and another close to Parliament during the demonstration at around 11.30am, resulting n arrests for the willful obstruction of the highway during the protest, the Metropolitan Police said.
Minutes before the protest took place, then-Prime Minister Liz Truss’ speech was interrupted by Greenpeace activists at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, calling out her support for fracking.
They criticised Liz Truss as having ‘no plan’ to deal with the current fuel crisis ‘that does not involve further suffering for the most vulnerable and tax giveaways for the rich’.
During her keynote speech, she also attacked an ‘anti-growth coalition’ of left wing parties, Scottish nationalists, ‘militant’ trade unions, Brexit deniers and environmental protestors in her speech.
Speaking in her address to her party, Liz Truss said she would ‘not allow the anti-growth coalition to hold us back.’
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil claimed its protestors could not ‘stand by’ as ‘everyday life becomes unaffordable for millions.’
Activists march through central London as Just Stop Oil continue their ‘Occupation of Westminster’ protest
October 6 – Trafalgar Square chaos
On day six of the campaign, the protesters blocked roads in Trafalgar Square, causing yet more mayhem in the heart of the capital.
Some 32 demonstrators sat down with banners and glued themselves to the Tarmac, before they were all removed and arrested on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.
Just Stop Oil also said: ‘A group of seven queer people have formed one of the roadblocks. They are dressed in drag to demonstrate their unapologetic queerness.’
In a press release announcing the protest today, Peter Tatchell, 70, the veteran LGBT rights campaigner, was quoted as saying: ‘There is no point campaigning for LGBT+ human rights if we don’t have a planet where we can enjoy them.
‘Climate destruction is an existential threat to the survival of queer humanity. In the tradition of LGBT+ direct action by groups like OutRage!, heroic queer activists from Just Stop Oil are taking on the climate wreckers to save our planet from ecocide. They deserve our admiration and support.’
Police officers remove an activist during a ‘Just Stop Oil’ protest blocking roads around Trafalgar Square in London
October 7 – Vauxhall Bridge disruption
Just Stop Oil’s first week of consecutive action came to a close by blocking off roads leading to Vauxhall Bridge.
Some 25 demonstrators in several groups blocked routes to the north and south of the bridge, sitting down with banners and glueing themselves to the roads.
The group confirmed the action ‘brings to an end the first week of continuous disruption’ – but warned that ‘coming weeks will see the disruption in the capital increase’.
Scotland Yard confirmed that 23 people were arrested on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway and the road was opened ‘after a short while’.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Further protests took place in central London today. Demonstrators blocked traffic at two locations, Albert Embankment and Vauxhall Bridge.
‘Specialist officers safely removed those who had glued themselves to the road. 23 people were arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway and the road was opened after a short while.’
Met Police officers carry away a ‘Just Stop Oil’ activist during their road-block protest in London on October 7
October 8 – A501 blockade
Three more major roads in central London were blocked at the start of Just Stop Oil’s second week of continuous action.
Around 40 supporters established roadblocks on three roads adjacent to the A501, resulting in severe disruption on Marylebone Road and shutting off the Edgware Road, Gloucester Place and Station Approach.
An angry motorist ripped banners from the hands of activists and told them to ‘leave the road’, earning him a round of applause form a passer-by.
The eco-zealots, wearing luminous vests, sat across Marylebone Road, while long queues of cars, buses and taxis angrily beeped their horns.
Just Stop Oil activists also joined members of Animal Rebellion (AR) to march down Pall Mall, in the City of Westminster, in a bid to draw attention to the climate crisis in a separate demonstration.
AR campaigners also poured red paint inside Farlows, a hunting and fishing shop on Pall Mall, and daubed paint on the windows of William Evans, a shooting supply shop in nearby St James’s Street, while others took and emptied milk from supermarkets.
After putting out a message ‘calling all vegans to occupy London’, AR said protesters brought London’s West End ‘to a standstill’ as people marched from Green Park to Piccadilly Circus.
Just Stop Oil activists try to hold a banner in front of the traffic in Westminster, central London on October 8
October 9 – Piccadilly Circus madness
Furious motorists were again pictured dragging members from the roads as the activists stopped traffic again on their ninth consecutive day of action, which ultimately resulted in 45 arrests at Piccadilly Circus.
One was filmed clambering on top of a police van which had arrived to deal with the protesters and gluing himself down to it by the hand.
But motorists out and about were frustrated by the protests and took matters into their own hands – attempting to forcibly remove the protesters from the roads themselves.
There was also footage online of a white van driving towards the protesters at speed, before slamming the brakes on and stopping just a couple of centimetres in front of them.
This driver and others were shown violently pushing and shoving protesters, as well as dragging them towards the pavement. In one online video a driver could be heard saying: ‘I have to go to hospital… stop interfering with us!’
The Met Police then took aim at the group, who they say had caused ‘unreasonable disruption’ to people’s lives with their actions.
Protesters, some with their necks padlocked together, block the road as they take part in a demonstration by Just Stop Oil climate activists at Piccadilly Circus
October 10 – Sit-down at Buckingham Palace
On the tenth day of action, police arrested 25 eco-zealots who glued themselves to each other and roads close to Buckingham Palace, sparking anger from motorists who told the activists to ‘get a job’.
Officers first attended at around 8.45am and the final activists were only taken away in police vans by lunchtime.
A Just Stop Oil activist at the scene who did not block the road said to the final protesters as they were lifted into the vans: ‘You’ve done really well. Solidarity.’
It came as footage from the protest emerged showing one liaison officer telling the group, ‘let me know if I can do anything for you’ as the mob staged the sit-down protest.
However, one van driver blasted his horn and shouted ‘get a job’, while a taxi driver shouted at them: ‘F****** load of w******. Go and get a real f****** job.’
Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London
October 11 – Knightsbridge roadblock
The eleventh consecutive day of protest saw an irate van driver force his vehicle through a wall of protesters as fed-up motorists ripped banners and dragged activists off the road by hand in extraordinary scenes.
Amid the chaos, a fire engine on an emergency call struggled to get through the demonstrations, while an ambulance had to reverse and find another route as the group Just Stop Oil descended on exclusive Knightsbridge.
The angry van driver was filmed slowly driving into the activists to make it through, forcing them to move away from his vehicle.
Other motorists blared their horns and motorcyclists tried to weave past the protesters at the junction of Knightsbridge and Brompton Road, while one driver claimed they were stopping a baby from getting to hospital.
Meanwhile, a stuck Westminster City Council binman shouted: ‘You’ve got nothing better to do, get a job, you mugs, come on it’s enough, we’re just the f***ing workers, you clowns, f***ing idiots, you just sit there like a bunch of lemons.’
Responding to the demonstration, which saw 27 people arrested, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘These sorts of protests which disrupt people’s daily lives or indeed can stop our emergency services from potentially saving lives are unacceptable.
‘That’s why we’ve already toughened powers for the police, we’ve given them new powers to act and we are also taking further powers through the House at the moment to ensure they can go even further in preventing these individuals from disrupting people’s lives.’
Climate campaigners from ‘Just Stop Oil’ attempt to block roads near Harrods in Knightsbridge
October 12 – Parliament Square blockade
Another 27 people were arrested on the Wednesday after the eco-warriors blocked the roads around Parliament Square.
The Met said they were all arrested for public order offences – including one who had to be carried down on a stretcher after he climbed on top of a police van.
It came as commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee that officers have to wait until protests are deemed to meet a legal threshold of causing major disruption before they can be shut down.
His officers are in touch with Transport for London, local councils and the emergency services several times per day to check the level of disruption caused.
Susan Hall, the Conservative chairwoman of the committee, also claimed that police officers were allegedly handing cups of tea to protesters, The Times reported.
Sir Mark said he was not aware of that and added: ‘I hope we’re not doing that, I agree with you it’s not our responsibility.’
Just Stop Oil protestors block the road bear the rear exit of Downing street at Horseguards Avenue
October 13 – Roundabout roadblock
Frustrations boiled over again the following day as the activists caused a furious bust-up between drivers after blocking a key roundabout in south London.
One man pushed a protester, before a second witness shouted: ‘Don’t touch him, oi, leave him alone. What do you think you’re f***ing doing? Let the police deal with it.’ The man replied: ‘Where’s the f***ing police then?’
But the other man said: You can’t f***ing attack them like that, you can’t touch them, you can’t f***ing physically attack them. Stupid c***.’ Passers-by also ripped banners from the group, before further people gave them back.
The demonstrators established a series of roadblocks from 9am on routes around St George’s Circus in Southwark, which is located between Lambeth North and Elephant and Castle Underground stations.
An ambulance on an emergency call also appeared to be blocked by the protest, with a video showing it sitting stationary with its flashing blue lights on. The junction is about 1,000 yards from St Thomas’ Hospital.
One frustrated woman was heard asking the group: ‘I have a disabled child who needs to go to school, why are you doing this to people?’
They then carried out a second protest by sitting outside Downing Street – with police liaison officers seen speaking to the group who were again holding banners and signs.
Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters occupying roads around Southwark in London
October 14 – Van Gogh soup attack
The group then stepped up their efforts at the end of the second week of action, as two activists were arrested for throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery.
The duo – named by the pressure group as Anna Holland, 20, and 21-year-old Phoebe Plummer – threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the iconic £76 million painting before gluing themselves to a wall inside the Gallery.
Police say the work of art was ‘unharmed’ but some minor damage was caused to the frame. The National Gallery added in the evening that Sunflowers was back on display and undamaged.
Hours later, other rebellious eco-zealots from the campaign group launched a humiliating attack against the police, spraying orange paint over the New Scotland Yard HQ’s sign in Westminster, London – prompting officers to make 24 arrests.
During the same protest, an angry motorist threw a can of coke at the activists as they blockaded the road.
Activists of ‘Just Stop Oil’ glue their hands to the wall after throwing soup at Van Gogh’s painting ‘Sunflowers’ at the National Gallery in London
October 15 – Shoreditch sit-down
At the start of the third week of action, furious road users resorted to dragging the protesters out of the road and begged them to move as they blocked busy Shoreditch High Street in East London – stopping a fire truck from getting through.
At least 26 people were arrested at the junction after Met Police arrived to unglue and remove the dozens of protestors blocking up the streets on the 15th consecutive day of disruption by the eco-zealots.
In one clip of the disruption, caused by 29 protesters who glued themselves to the road just after 12pm, a van driver claims he desperately needs to get his sick wife to hospital.
Tensions between the driver and activists reached boiling point when he drove towards members of the group sitting in the middle of the road.
Several protesters jump up as the van approaches while a woman is heard screaming ‘No! Don’t do it!’
Meanwhile another drivers was seen snatching a banner off the protesters before yelling: ‘You all use fuel in some way or another… this is ridiculous get out the way!’
Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters blocking Shoreditch High Street in London
October 16 – Park Lane paint stunt
Just Stop Oil’s next stunt saw them spraying paint over an Aston Martin showroom as they blocked off London’s affluent Park Lane.
But a furious cab driver hauled the protesters out the way as a fellow motorist bellowed at them: ‘People have got f****** work to go to’ while another added ‘people are trying to go to hospital’.
The protesters descended on the famous London highway just after 11am with 14 of them blocking it with barriers after gluing themselves to the tarmac.
Moments later a supporter sprayed orange paint over the Aston Martin car showroom in an apparent spontaneous act of vandalism.
Among them were a pregnant mother and a musician who all vowed to continue with their deeply divisive campaign.
It came just hours after Home Secretary Suella Braverman slammed the activists as ‘thugs’ and told the Metropolitan Police and told them to ‘do a better job’.
Police with Just Stop Oil protesters who have blocked Park Lane in central London and sprayed paint over a Aston Martin car showroom
October 17 – QE2 Bridge scaled
In perhaps their most disruptive protest yet, Just Stop Oil was responsible for the QE2 Bridge at Dartford on the M25 being closed all day from 5am after two activists ascended 275ft masts and dangled over the structure.
Morgan Trowland, 39, and Marcus Carambola, 33, scaled the bridge linking Essex to Kent in the early hours, forcing the police to stop traffic from entering the bridge and causing huge delays for more than 17 hours.
Police said the operation was ‘complex’ due to the height at which the protestors were situated, adding it would take time to get them down.
But furious drivers blasted the police’s response, saying they were ‘playing into the hands’ of eco activists by shutting the bridge.
Meanwhile, other protesters threw soup over the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and halted traffic outside the building in busy central London.
A dozen protesters gathered on Victoria Street in Westminster just after 11.30am, sitting down in the road holding banners and glueing themselves to the tarmac and each other.
A number of other protesters then threw soup on to the front of the building. Just Stop Oil said that they targeted the BEIS because it is the Government department responsible for allowing new fossil fuel extraction.
In perhaps their most disruptive protest yet, Just Stop Oil was responsible for the QE2 Bridge at Dartford on the M25 being closed all day from 5am after two activists ascended 275ft masts and dangled over the structure
October 18 – Baron’s Court blockade
The following day, the two protesters who were suspended from the QE2 bridge were removed and arrested by police to the joy of drivers – after a ‘super cherry picker’ arrived to pluck them from the girders.
The crossing finally reopened after 36 hours following the protesters agreeing to co-operate with officers and come down as the ‘specialised raised platform’ arrived on the bridge.
Police said they ‘worked hard’ to bring the situation to a safe conclusion and considered a number of options before bringing in an elevated platform which allowed specialist officers to work from height.
The same day, a fuming motorist yelled at police officers for doing nothing as Just Stop Oil ‘idiots waste my time’ as they blocked the A4 into London during rush hour.
The driver was filmed out his car shouting at a police officer as a group of more than 20 eco-zealots who staged a sit-down demonstration outside Baron’s Court station, blocked one of the main roads into the capital.
Another Londoner also angrily confronted Just Stop Oil protesters in the middle of the road and demanded the ‘lazy b*****ds get a job’.
Activists of Just Stop Oil climate campaign group hold a banner at Barons Court in west London as they block the A4
October 19 – Action on the A4
Another roadblock was in place the next morning, resulting in 25 arrests after traffic was stopped on one of London’s busiest roads.
Vehicles were gridlocked on the A4 Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum as the group continued its month-long protest.
Video showed multiple officers stood in front of protesters who are sat on the road, with one PC politely asking an activist: ‘Why won’t you move?’
The group were later dragged off the road and taken into custody by police officers and the road reopened less than two hours after the demonstration began.
Meanwhile, campaigners appealed for help so they have somewhere to stay at night while they rest after protesting, setting up a fundraiser asking for £3,000 of support.
Protesters from Just Stop Oil block the Cromwell Road near the Natural History Museum in west London
October 20 – Harrods splattered in orange
The spray paint was back as the protest reached its 20th consecutive day, with activists splattering the world-famous Harrods store in orange before blocking all traffic outside the Knightsbridge store.
Some 20 supporters of the group glued themselves to Brompton Road, directly outside Harrods, with some using locks to attach themselves together.
A video shared on its Twitter page showed protesters spraying their distinctive orange paint on the windows of the luxury shop, as members of the public could be heard asking: ‘What are you doing?’
Footage then appeared to show Harrods security staff taking those spraying paint inside the store, as two people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
But furious members of the public attempted to drag the protesters, all of whom wore orange jackets and held a banner aloft, off the road as traffic was brought to a standstill.
One man, dressed in a black suit, who is seen hauling and throwing banners away from the road, shouted: ‘People have places to be instead of f*****g wasting time.’
Another man said: ‘How are you saving the planet? These cars are now kicking up more fumes.’
Activists sprayed an orange substance on the windows of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge
October 21 – Holborn hold-up
The third week of non-stop protests came to a close with another roadblock, this time near Holborn tube station.
A frustrated black cab driver told the activists to ‘get a job’ during the disruption, before police intervened and made 16 arrests.
During the demonstration, some sat in the road with banners while others glued themselves onto the tarmac. Meanwhile, an angry motorist ripped a banner out of the hands of a protester.
One of those detained was Rev. Sue Parfitt, an 80-year-old retired Anglican priest. She has previously been arrested over a number of climate protests, and earlier this year quashed a conviction for her part in a protest which saw 20 people block entrances to Britain’s largest military site in December 2020.
As the pensioner was being led, arm-in-arm with a police officer to a waiting van, she said: ‘I am doing this because we are on the brink of the greatest catastrophe that human beings have ever known, and the Government and the public have to wake up to this.
‘The Government’s in extreme dereliction of its duty in not explaining the facts of climate change to the public.’
Just Stop Oil supporters blocks a key road junction in Holborn on their 21st day of action across the month of October
October 22 – Islington blockade
The start of the fourth week of action saw more protesters glueing themselves to roads, this time in Islington.
Roughly 20 activists walked into the road in north London and stopped traffic at Upper Street and Islington Green at 12pm. Some supporters glued themselves onto the tarmac and others used lock-ons.
Police arrested 17 protesters for wilful obstruction of the highway and cleared both carriageways of Upper Street by 1.55pm.
Just Stop Oil protesters block traffic in Islington on their 22nd day of action across the month of October
October 23 – Abbey Road sit-down
Four protesters were arrested the following day after blocking the iconic Abbey Road crossing in north west London.
Members of the eco-mob walked onto the pedestrian crossing – made famous by The Beatles album of the same name – at 1pm on Sunday as they continued to cause chaos on the roads of the capital.
They were later pictured being handcuffed and carried away by Metropolitan Police officers little over an hour after the force arrived to the scene.
At least one vehicle was seen driving on the pavement to get round the protesters, before the Met sent four police vans and dozens of police officers to the scene and the road was closed while they worked to remove the activists.
The force confirmed it had reopened the road just over an hour later and arrested four people on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.
Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters demonstrating on the famous Abbey Road crossing in London
October 24 – King’s waxwork cake attack
On Monday, police arrested a group of protesters after they threw chocolate cake in the face of a waxwork of King Charles III at Madame Tussauds.
Footage shows two of the eco zealots walking up to the waxwork at the famous London attraction at around 10.50am before taking off their tops to reveal Just Stop Oil t-shirts. One of them shouts, ‘This is a time for action’ before they both smear it with cake.
As onlookers shouted ‘stop’, the female protester began a finger-wagging lecture about climate change while her male counterpart stands awkwardly with his arms crossed.
Just Stop Oil identified the pair as Eilidh McFadden, a 20-year-old from Glasgow and Tom Johnson, 29, a painter decorator from Sunderland. They had bought tickets to Madame Tussauds and wore black tops to cover their t-shirts.
The Met confirmed they had been arrested for criminal damage alongside two others. Nearby waxworks of Camilla, William and Kate emerged unscathed.
Two Just Stop Oil activists threw chocolate cake on a waxwork model of King Charles III at Madam Tussauds in London
October 25 – Tufton Street paint attack
Day 25 of the action saw activists spray an organ substance over the front door of a building associated with climate change sceptics and Brexit-backing think-tanks on Tuesday,
Footage showed a fanatic dousing the front of 55 Tufton Street in Westminster, home to the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) and other fossil fuel lobby groups, in the susbtance.
The spray paint came as part of a wider protest which saw a total of six protesters block Horseferry Road. Some protesters glued themselves onto the tarmac in the road while others locked themselves together.
A furious taxi driver was seen driving over the pavement as zealots lay in the middle of nearby Horseferry Road to block traffic. The Metropolitan Police said the chaos was cleared up by 1.20pm.
Officers arrested one person on suspicion of criminal damage and seven others on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.
The protester who threw the paint, identified by Just Stop Oil as a ‘normal guy from south London’, said he attacked the property in an attempt to fight ‘big oil, famine, pestilence and war’.
Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters demonstrating on Tufton Street by throwing orange paint on a building in London
October 26 – Car showroom paint attack
Just Stop Oil caused lunchtime chaos again by blocking a busy junction outside The Ritz in central London and gluing themselves to the tarmac.
The protest prompted clashes with angry motorists who dragged activists out of the road and accused them of ‘holding up ambulances’.
At around midday on Wednesday, eco zealots blocked Piccadilly near Green Park by sitting in the road with banners while three had glued themselves to the tarmac.
Police said 11 people have been arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway and taken into custody at a central London police station, with the road re-opening just before 1pm.
Footage emerged showing angry drivers in a heated confrontation with the eco activists, who were blocking the road outside The Ritz hotel, with one saying: ‘Move out the f***ing way you c***s’.
Hours earlier, two climate activists were arrested for criminal damage after they sprayed orange paint on luxury car showrooms in Berkeley Square, central London.
October 27 – Mansion House
A huge Just Stop Oil protest erupted in central London in the 27th day of a campaign of chaos and disruption.
Activists sat on the road on Cannon Street, Queen Victoria Street and Garlick Hill in the City of London to demand the government end all new licences for oil and gas production.
The environmental group claimed 31 people were involved in the protest – the latest in its series of mass demonstrations since the start of October.
October 27: Protestors sat in the middle of the road around the City of London as part of a month-long campaign
October 28 – Activists spray paint on the Rolex building in Knightsbridge
Just Stop Oil activists sprayed paint on a high end jeweller in central London.
At 8.43am, two protesters sprayed orange paint from a fire extinguisher over the premises of Rolex in Knightsbridge.
Both were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and have been taken into custody at a central London police station.
It came as the campaign group continues its month-long series of protests as it calls on the Government to halt all new fossil fuel licences.
The group says police have made over 600 arrests since they began their action at the beginning of October.
Adrian Johnson 56, a former deputy headteacher from Perthshire said: ‘The science is clear. The breakdown of the climate is here and it is due to the extraction and use of fossil fuels.
‘Any new fossil fuel projects will cause irreparable damage to the climate. This may have already happened.
‘And yet, this is the path our government is following by granting over 100 new oil and gas licenses. It makes no sense and it’s reckless beyond belief.
‘That’s why I have decided to take action. I can no longer sit back and ignore it.’
October 28: The activists sprayed paint on the Rolex building in Knightsbridge
October 29 – Protesters block traffic on four roads
On the 29th consecutive day of Just Stop Oil demonstrations in London, fed-up commuters pleaded with ‘pathetic’ activists to put an end to the chaos.
At about midday, 61 protesters marched through Charing Cross Road, Kensington High Street, Kennington Road and Blackfriars Road with banners, blocking traffic in both directions.
Some glued their hands to the tarmac while others locked on to one another – sparking concerns of traffic chaos.
At the Kennington demonstration, frustrated motorists dragged protesters off the road in an attempt to make enough room for traffic to flow freely.
‘This is f**king pathetic,’ one person said as he dragged people out of the way.
‘I’ve asked you nicely. There’s people trying to go about their business. For the last time, move.’
October 29: At about midday, 61 protesters marched through Charing Cross Road, Kensington High Street, Kennington Road and Blackfriars Road with banners, blocking traffic in both directions
October 30 – Commercial Street and Hanbury Street
Eco zealots returbed for their 30th consecutive day of protesting as they blocked traffic by sitting in two roads in east London.
The disruptive activists were seen sitting on Commercial Street and Hanbury Street.
Drivers angrily remonstrated with them and tried to pull them out of the way, and one woman shouted that she had a sick child in her car before police arrived at the scene.
One man was seen kicking the Just Stop Oil banner away in frustration before narrowly evading them with his car as he drove through the blockade.
Protesters have sprayed orange paint outside the Home Office and three other buildings in central London on day 31 of protests
October 31 – Four buildings in London Bridge, Westminster and the City of London
Eco zealots have sprayed orange paint on four buildings in central London today on the 31st day of protests.
At 8.30am, six eco activists doused paint from fire extinguishers on the Home Office, the MI5 building, the Bank of England and the headquarters of News Corp at London Bridge.
The group said the buildings were chosen to represent the pillars that support and maintain the power of the fossil fuel economy – government, security, finance and media.
The Met Police said officers responded quickly to all incidents and a ‘number of people have now been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage’.
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