Twenty-five supporters of Just Stop Oil have been arrested after blocking traffic in central London, on the sixth consecutive day of protest by the group.
At about midday on Thursday, two groups of protesters with the climate activist campaign walked into the road and stopped traffic at the roundabout by Trafalgar Square.
Some campaigners glued themselves to the asphalt, while others locked themselves together in metal tubes. They kept the road blocked for more than an hour, drawing large crowds of onlookers, and some abuse.
Supporters of Just Stop Oil have vowed to block the streets of Westminster every single day until the government agrees a halt to all new oil and gas projects. The latest arrests bring the number of arrests related to their protests to more than 100 since Sunday.
In a statement, the group said its actions in Westminster were timed to coincide with a new round of oil and gas project licensing, as well as an expected hike in energy bills that is expected to push millions of UK households into fuel poverty.
“We are in an economic and environmental crisis, with oil companies making obscene profits while climate breakdown spirals out of control, and ordinary people can’t afford to live,” said Cat Acheson, a sustainability research student at the University of East Anglia, who was part of the protests.
“Enough is enough. We need an end to all new fossil fuel extraction, a redistribution of wealth, and clean, affordable energy for all.”
Among those protesting were members of Just Stop Oil’s LGBTQ bloc, some of whom dressed in drag. Sean, 25, who declined to give his surname, said joining in with direct action struggles was part of a long tradition of LGBT activism.
“Direct action like this is what got us our rights in the past, it’s what saved us from the Aids crisis. Coming together will hopefully save us from the climate crisis. We need to take action together,” he said.
Oliver Clegg, 19, a student at Manchester, who had glued his hand to the road, said: “The climate crisis has a disproportionate effect on people who are already marginalised, including queer people.
“The climate crisis is a queer issue, and we are not going to stand by and let it happen. Civil resistance is a potent expression of queerness. We encourage queer people to join us in civil resistance.”
The Metropolitan police said 25 people were arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway. A statement said: “We are aware of current protest action in central London. Protesters are blocking traffic, having glued and locked themselves to the road at the top of Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square. Officers are responding on scene to get protesters removed.”
For several weeks in April, Just Stop Oil staged blockades and mass trespasses at oil terminals, in an effort to obstruct the fossil fuel supply chain in the Midlands and south of England.
The group, which is funded by donations, including from the Climate Emergency Foundation, a philanthropic fund that backs climate activism around the world, has since changed tactics several times.
Heidi, 31, who was part of Thursday’s blockade, said part of the reason for blocking roads was to get more “public awareness” of the climate issue. “It’s not that we have stopped blocking oil refineries,” she said. “We need both: we need the public awareness as well as the material disruption.”
This week’s protests resembled those staged by Insulate Britain in autumn last year, and familiar faces from that campaign could be seen taking action on Thursday. Some motorists and passersby expressed their anger, with one shouting “faggot” in Sean’s ear.
Others were more equanimous. Patrick Kasende, 50, who was in a van at the front of a line of traffic held up by the blockade, said he understood the urgency of the climate crisis.
“They have a right [to protest], because it’s people’s lives at risk,” he said. “We need a proper energy, renewable energy. At the same time, we have a right to get to work.”
A report on Thursday by the NGO Global Energy Monitor warned that planned further exploitation of oil and gas in the UK was “radically at odds” with the UK’s legally binding commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
