Just Stop Oil supporters have blocked Horseferry Road and sprayed paint on 55 Tufton Street, the headquarters of the Global Warming Policy Foundation and other fossil fuel lobby groups. They are demanding that the government halts all new oil and gas licences and consents. [1]
At 11:00am today, 6 Just Stop Oil supporters walked onto Horseferry Road at the junction with Tufton Street and disrupted traffic by sitting in the road with banners. Some supporters glued onto the tarmac, while others locked themselves together. Two supporters have sprayed paint on the outside of 55 Tufton Street. [2]
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said:
“We’re on the streets of London because politics is broken. It was broken here in Tufton Street by shady, opaquely funded lobbyists who now stalk the corridors of power, thanks to Liz Truss. Their bankrupt ideas have brought the economy to its knees but it’s much worse than that.
“Decades of climate denial and delay, which they promoted, mean that we now face an existential crisis. We face the prospect of climate collapse. This will bring drought, heatwaves and crop failures, civil unrest and political insecurity. No-one is safe.
“Liz Truss’s toxic pro-oil policies helped end her career – and unless we ditch them, they’ll finish us off too. We cannot afford new oil and gas”
Just Stop Oil continues to peacefully resist the government’s plans to licence over 100 new oil and gas projects by 2025, and its failure to fulfil its promise to help people with their skyrocketing energy bills. Policy failures that will force millions into poverty and facing a choice between heating, eating, or providing the basic essentials for themselves and their families.
Today’s roadblock follows three weeks of continuous civil resistance by supporters of Just Stop Oil during which the police have made 576 arrests. Since the campaign began on April 1st, Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested 1,880 times, with 7 supporters currently in prison.[3]
This is not a one day event, expect us every day and anywhere. This is an act of resistance against a criminal government and their genocidal death project. 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 be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence peaceful people. Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities.
Stand with our supporters in prison, with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives. We will not die silently, it will be ordinary people, like you, your friends, colleagues and neighbours who do what our government cannot. It will take all of us. [4]
Notes to Editors
[1] Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to demand 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.
[2] 55 Tufton Street is home to a small but influential network of libertarian, pro-Brexit thinktanks and lobby groups, including the UK‘s principal climate science denial group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation and the Taxpayers Alliance. [3] There are now 7 Just Stop Oil supporters in prison on remand or serving sentences for taking action to demand that the government halts new oil and gas licences. They are Joshua Smith, Louis McKechnie, Simon Milner-Edwards, Margaret Reid, Michelle Charlesworth, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker. Also in prison are Madelaine Budd for the ‘Captain Tom’ action, Scott Breen for taking action against the Southampton to Heathrow pipeline and Elliott Cuciurean for taking action against HS2
[4] 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.