Just Stop Oil activists have blocked traffic in east London in what is the fifteenth day of action in the capital.
Shortly after midday, approximately 29 protesters established a roadblock on Shoreditch High Street at the junction of Great Eastern Street, with some gluing themselves to the tarmac. Police later said 26 people were arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway.
Seperately, Anna Holland, 20, of Westgate Road in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, of Elms Road in Clapham have been charged with criminal damage after they threw tomato soup over the famous Vincent Van Gogh painting at the National Gallery on Friday.
Lora Johnson, 38, of Keens Lane, Reydon, Southwold in Suffolk has also been charged with criminal damage after spraying the Metropolitan Police’s New Scotland Yard sign with orange paint - over 400 people have so far been arrested since the group began its protests this month including 28 people on Friday.
A spokesperson from the group said on Saturday: “Yesterday Just Stop Oil supporters threw soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers on display in the National Gallery and paint over the Metropolitan Police’s iconic New Scotland Yard sign.
“We accept that both these actions have upset and provoked many people, as will the disruption caused by today’s road block.
“But our art, culture and the rule of law is threatened. Our heritage, rights and freedoms are being destroyed by our government’s lies and the failure of politics, and right now millions of people are facing this brutal impact of climate change. Yet our government is seeking to expand fossil fuel production
“Ending new oil and gas is a no-brainer first step to ending the harm, the Government can at least end the disruption on the streets tomorrow, by announcing this policy. They have changed their mind on everything else.”
The latest protests is part of prolonged action by the group after 100 new oil and gas projects were approved by The North Sea Transition Authority in September.
Further protests are expected throughout October.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were quickly on scene after protesters blocked roads in the Shoreditch area around 12:15 today.
“Several individuals ‘locked on’ and glued themselves onto the road surface.
“Specialist officers were required to carry out debonding. A total of 26 Arrests were made for wilful obstruction of the highway.
“Roads were quickly opened and traffic back to normal.”
