Protestors who blocked a major road in Newcastle city centre have been left "shaken" after members of the public forcibly dragged them away.
Eleven people from Just Stop Oil held a demonstration outside of Central Station on Neville Street at around 2pm on Saturday, June 11, as they called on the Government to end new fossil fuel licensing and production.
The group, which was largely made up of students from Newcastle, sat down in the middle of the road to block traffic in an effort to draw attention to their message. However, demonstrators found themselves forcibly dragged out of the road by angry members of the public.
Just Stop Oil volunteer Alex De Koning, 24, said he was shocked by the way the situation escalated. "The intention was to do it for four and a half minutes," he said.
"We didn't want to do it for too long as we didn't want to inconvenience people too much, but wanted to do it long enough to get the message out there."
Alex said that Just Stop Oil aims to block all new fossil fuel licences in the North Sea.
He continued: "We have never faced a reaction quite like that before in Newcastle. It was quite shocking. We were just there for four minutes so it was quite a surprise that we weren't prepared for.
"The demonstrators were really overwhelmed and shook up. Thankfully, they were not hurt and they are all willing to do it again which is really empowering."
He added: "There were still a lot of people there in support and talk the other ones down, which was lovely."
Northumbria Police confirmed that officers attended the scene and spoke to those present but that no offences were reported.
A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “Shortly after 2.20pm on Saturday (June 11) we were made aware of a protest ongoing on Neville Street, Newcastle.
“Officers attended the scene and spoke those present, many of whom had started to disperse. No offences were reported.”
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