Recently, more than 50 Just Stop Oil protesters were sent to jail in a single day this week after refusing to comply with court proceedings. The protesters, who appeared before judges in London and Birmingham, had broken an injunction to take part in a blockade of the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire.
Many of the protesters confirmed that they would continue to take action at the terminal if they were released on bail, despite an injunction prohibiting protests at the site still being in force. In order to prevent that, judges remanded 51 protesters in prison and are due to appear before the courts again next week.
This isn't the first time that the group has made headlines for its wild protests. Back in March, during a football match between Everton and Newcastle, a protester attached himself to the goal post with cable ties.
Read more: 'Just Stop Oil': Two Bristol women deliberately get jailed
Clad in orange, protesters stormed the track at the British Grand Prix at the beginning of July, earning the admiration of a handful of high-profile drivers, including Lewis Hamilton. Earlier that week, members of the group glued themselves to a Van Gogh painting in a London gallery.
Who is Just Stop Oil?
Just Stop Oil are a successor group to Insulate Britain, which spent the autumn blocking Britain’s roads to highlight the need for home insulation. A total of 14 of Insulate Britain’s activists were jailed – and a further 74 are facing criminal charges.
The organisation describes itself as a “coalition of groups working together to demand that the government immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.”
It’s explicitly focused on young people taking action. The group is also linked to Extinction Rebellion – with veteran activist Roger Hallam cited as the mastermind behind all three.
What does Just Stop Oil want?
The group’s mission statement reads: "We must urgently end our reliance on fossil fuels to avoid irreversible changes in the earth’s climate system. We cannot continue to burn fossil fuels in the belief that future developments in carbon capture and storage and other so-called ‘unicorn technologies’ will allow us to suck vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."
It wants the UK to begin immediately by stopping new fossil fuel projects. It says it will give the country eight years to transition to a zero-carbon economy.
The group continues: “Everyone knows we have to engage in massive changes. Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups demanding the no-brainer things be done immediately – actions that will reduce the demand for fossil fuel energy dramatically such as insulating our homes, rethinking how we travel, getting on with renewable energy and making sure no one is left behind.”
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