Protesters glued themselves to Cromwell Road in South Kensington
(Picture: Just Stop Oil)Just Stop Oil protesters blocked traffic outside the Victoria and Albert and Natural History museums in London’s South Kensington on Wednesday morning.
Around 25 supporters sat on Cromwell Road, at the junction with Exhibition Road at 9.40am, holding banners. Some glued themselves together.
It’s the latest in a series of disruptive protests by the coalition of groups, which is demanding that the Government halts all new oil and gas licences and consents.
The Metropolitan Police said 17 protesters have been arrested.
“The group blocked the carriageway with 10 people glued on. Officers responded quickly and the road is now open. Four people were arrested nearby earlier for related offences,” the Met said.
A protester known as Mathew, 52, a civil engineer from Bristol said: “I am out of my comfort zone taking this action. It terrifies me. But climate change and its consequences are far more terrifying. I can no longer live with the government’s decisions on licensing new oil and gas projects.”
Sophy Allen, 47, a mother and government advisor from Totnes said: “Opening up new oil and gas projects is a direct threat to all our lives. We accept that our actions are disruptive. Civil resistance is the only rational response to a government that is doubling down on more fossil fuels, more air pollution, more drought, more flooding, more crop failure, more war and more death.”
🚨 28 BLOCK CROMWELL GARDENS 🚨
— Just Stop Oil ⚖️💀🛢 (@JustStop_Oil) October 19, 2022
🚧 28 supporters of Just Stop Oil have stopped traffic on the A4 Cromwell Road at the junction with Exhibition Road, demanding that the government halts all new oil and gas licences and consents.#FreeLouis #FreeJosh #CivilResistance #A22Network pic.twitter.com/c85ZFkNqPM
The action follows two supporters who scaled the Dartford Crossing QEII Bridge and spent a total of 37 hours. They were brought down on a cherry-picker and arrested on Tuesday evening.
On Monday protesters blocked traffic by glueing themselves to Victoria Street in Westminster and spraying soup on the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy building. Twelve people were arrested.
There has been two weeks of protests staged by supporters of Just Stop Oil. Police have made more than 500 arrests, the group claimed.
Since the campaign began in April, Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested over 1,750 times, with five supporters currently in prison, the group said.
Just Stop Oil was founded just months ago, in April, and the group has staged several protests since.
Its website states: “Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to ensure the Government commits to halting new fossil-fuel licensing and production.”
The climate-activist organisation is formed of several groups, with organisers from Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain at the helm.
The group is mostly funded by the Climate Emergency Fund but also receives donations from the public and other environmental groups.
