Just Stop Oil slip into London to create more chaos, blocking the capital’s roads with protest

Just Stop Oil protesters have caused gridlock in part of central London this morning after staging a demonstration.

More than 160 eco-activists, who last year staged more than a month of continuous demonstrations, have blocked roads in the Haymarket area and around Waterloo causing chaos during rush hour.

The group says it is the first day of an ‘indefinite campaign of civil resistance to demand an end to new UK oil and gas project’, with similar protests taking place across the West End, Westminster and South London. Extinction Rebellion were finishing their own four days of action today.

Its supporters have been seen walking slowly in the middle of the street in the capital since around 7am on Monday morning, sparking shouts of ‘get a job’ from angry motorists stuck behind them.

It comes a day after the London Marathon which had been considered a potential target for the environmentalists, but these failed to take place amid an apparent schism between the group and Extinction Rebellion.

However, thousands of XR activists did gather at Westminster, and authorities fear there could be a summer of chaos caused by environmental protest groups.

The eco-activists have been seen holding banners as they walk through the street, along with placards saying ‘betrayed by my government’ and ‘marching with Morgan’.

The latter is a reference to Morgan Trowland, a Just Stop Oil supporter who was jailed last week for three years after causing traffic chaos on the M25by climbing a bridge over the Dartford Crossing last November.

A number of its supporters were also seen on York Road near the London headquarters of oil giant Shell in Waterloo this morning.

The group were seen holding banners saying ‘we want to live, no new oil and gas’ and ‘Shut Down Shell’.

Just Stop Oil claims that from 1pm today hundreds of its supporters will set off on a march from Parliament Square towards the building.

A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said: ‘Asia is baking in extreme heat, threatening the lives of a third of the people on earth, but this government of criminals and bullies does not care. They are actively making it worse, licensing new oil and gas while silencing dissent and jailing those who resist.

‘More oil and gas means more heatwaves, more crop failure and more death. It is the greatest criminal act in human history. The government has lost its legitimacy. They are knowingly planning the murder of hundreds of thousands of UK citizens.

‘In the face of this obscenity, as an act of service and love, we have chosen to act. Civil resistance is our only hope. This is life or death, survival or collective suicide. It’s time to pick a side. We won’t stop until our genocidal government ends new oil and gas.’

The Metropolitan Police says it is working to remove protesters from the roads, saying: ‘Officers are on scene and we’ll aim to get traffic moving again freely as soon as it is safe to do so.’

It later said: ‘Just Stop Oil has been carrying out sporadic slow walk marches on the roads across central London this morning. Police have rapidly responded to get traffic moving freely again as soon as possible.

‘We continue to monitor Just Stop Oil protests to quickly respond to any disruption to the public and the wider transport network.’

The force confirmed it would conduct ‘rolling road closures’ during this afternoon’s march by protesters to ‘minimise traffic disruption’.

It marks the fourth day of protest in the capital, after thousands of XR supporters were bussed into the city on Friday, April 21.

Members started by setting up pickets outside Government buildings with a spokesperson saying they expected between 40,000-50,000 people to join in with the demonstrations.

However, fears that the London Marathon could be targeted by Just Stop Oil and other fringe groups such as Animal Uprising were fortunately misplaced as eco-activists held off on disrupting the world’s greatest running event.

XR protesters in Westminster yesterday said they had warned ‘naughty people’ who wanted to block the race not to do so as they don’t want to appear to be ‘the bad guys’

But that hasn’t stopped Just Stop Oil resuming their demonstrations today, with hundreds of supporters set to cause misery in the capital today.

Pa Bastide, a full-time volunteer with the group who is marching this morning, said she felt it was her ‘moral duty’ to take part.

The 29-year-old Londoner said: ‘I was brought up to know the difference between right and wrong, and what this murderous, corrupted government is doing is plain wrong.’

‘Putting my freedom on the line is the least I can do to ensure my loved ones and I have a liveable future. We need to stand up to a government that does not have our best interests at heart and that is determined to sell our futures, one new oil licence at a time.’

Fellow protester Marcin Wawrzyn, who is a construction worker, said: ‘I work in construction and I am here because the British government is messing with laws of physics. New oil and gas is genocide and they know it! I was 10 years old when I first heard of climate change. That was 30 years ago. I won’t be sitting around and waiting for another three decades.’

The 42-year-old Londoner added: ‘I’m back to work in two weeks’ time and I will get stuck in this traffic myself. And it’s worth it. And I would tell these people: This is bigger than World War 2, the Miners’ strike, and the Berlin Wall, bigger than the Poll Tax Riots. We need a human tipping point. It’s time to pick a side. We can win this. Join Just Stop Oil on a slow march, every Saturday at midday from Parliament Square.’

The latest protest comes after two Just Stop Oil supporters were jailed for a total of five years for a demonstrations which saw them scale a bridge over the Dartford Crossing.

Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker forced a road over the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links the M25 between Essex and Kent, to be closed for more than a day when they scaled it in November last year.

Sentencing Trowland to three years behind bars and Decker to two years and seven months in prison, judge Shane Collery KC said locking the pair up would hopefully deter anyone else from taking part in similar demonstrations.

‘You have to be punished for the chaos you caused and to deter others from copying you,’ he said.

The judge said that Trowland, who has six previous convictions relating to protests, had a ‘leading role’, while Decker had one previous conviction relating to a protest.

The judge said that the pair ‘plainly believed you knew better than everyone else’, adding: ‘In short, to hell with everyone else.’

‘By your actions you caused this very important road to be closed for 40 hours,’ the judge said, noting that the disruption affected ‘many tens of thousands, some very significantly’.

Just Stop Oil said aside from its usual goal of resisting oil and gas expansion, today’s marches are being held in solidarity with Trowland, Decker, and five Insulate Britain protesters who are currently in prison.