Just Stop Oil hold sit-down protest on The Mall near Buckingham Palace

2022-10-10

‘Go and get a real f****** job!’: Furious taxi driver RAGES at Just Stop Oil eco-mob as they block The Mall and glue themselves to roads near Buckingham Palace on Monday morning rush hour commute

Protesters try to block The Mall on a tenth consecutive day of demonstrations
Taxi driver shouts at them: ‘F****** load of w******. Go and get a real f****** job.’
Police liaison officer tells the group: ‘Let me know if I can I do anything for you’
Just Stop Oil says 30 activists established roadblock on The Mall at 8.45am

Climate activists from Just Stop Oil were shouted at by irate motorists outside Buckingham Palace today as drivers resorted to weaving their way around them.

Protesters from the group attempted to block The Mall on a tenth consecutive day of demonstrations, with one van driver blasting his horn and shouting: ‘Get a job.’

A taxi driver shouted at them: ‘F****** load of w******. Go and get a real f****** job.’ But a cyclist told them: ‘Go on the protestors, you’re doing great work. Stay strong.’

Demonstrators in high-vis vests emblazoned with the Just Stop Oil logo sat down across the road amid ongoing protests about the Government’s fossil fuels policy.

One police liaison officer at the scene today told the group: ‘Let me know if I can I do anything for you.’ The protester replied: ‘Not unless you have a letter from Liz Truss.’

Just Stop Oil said 30 of its activists established a roadblock on The Mall at 8.45am today, stopping traffic in both directions as they sat down with the group’s banners.

The organisation added that 250 of its demonstrators have been arrested over the ten days so far, and there have been 1,500 arrests since its campaign began in April.

A Just Stop Oil spokesman said today: ‘At 8.45am this morning, 30 supporters of Just Stop Oil established a roadblock on the Mall, stopping traffic in either direction. They are sitting in the road, and some have glued themselves to the Tarmac.’

Just Stop Oil protesters block The Mall outside Buckingham Palace in London this morning

Emma Brown, 31, who lives in Glasgow and was one of the Just Stop Oil protestors blocking The Mall, said that the activists ‘would walk 500 miles’ to ‘just stop oil’.

Ms Brown said that the protesters had come down from Scotland and that this was her first demonstration.

She said: ‘We’ve come down because the Government is pressing ahead with over 100 new fossil fuel licences. And that is literally a death sentence for all of us here and for all of you.

‘So we can’t allow this to continue. We have to have a cut-off somewhere. We’ve seen the effects already on our doorstep. We’re seeing the effects all over the globe. And this madness has to stop.’

Pupils from Park Mains High School in Erskine, Renfrewshire, were at the scene watching the protesters. One teacher said: ‘Let’s get a photo with the activists!’

Another teacher told a pupil off for filming in a demonstrator’s face. The schoolboy said: ‘But they’re protesters, they want the attention.’ The teacher replied: ‘Don’t do that again. Wind your neck in.’

Just Stop Oil protesters block The Mall outside Buckingham Palace in London this morning

Several police officers and police liaison officers were at The Mall talking to the protesters. There were eight police vehicles at the scene.

One police officer asked: ‘How long are you going to be here?’ A protester replied: ‘Until we get a new government.’

Activist Ailith Stewart, 20, a student from Edinburgh, said: ‘I’m taking action with Just Stop Oil because I’m tired of feeling ignored by the government at Westminster.

‘Their decisions don’t represent the best interests of the people. There is so much that can be done to mitigate the climate crisis, but this government seems intent on ‘ignoring it all and making ordinary people suffer in the name of profit.

‘If there’s any chance we can show them that the people won’t stand for it, I want to take it. There’s more of us than there are of them, and we’re where their power comes from.

Just Stop Oil protesters block The Mall outside Buckingham Palace in London this morning

‘I’m taking action for my future, the future of my loved ones, children I may one day have, and every person who has to suffer the consequences of the climate crisis now without ever having been involved in a single decision about it.’

And Kevin Wing, 47, a father-of-two from Glasgow, added: ‘My kids’ favourite book is The Lorax – they already understand what the Eton-educated government utterly fail to grasp: that oil extraction at all costs will destroy our only home.

‘I am taking action for all the families in the global south already facing the effects of climate destruction, and for the future of my children’s generation.

‘Rather than choosing to help desperate families during this energy crisis, the UK government is instead providing billions of pounds of tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry death machine.

Just Stop Oil protesters block The Mall outside Buckingham Palace in London this morning

‘This is making a privileged elite richer at the expense of ordinary people having to choose whether they heat their homes or have food to eat.

‘I am taking non-violent direct action to fight this horrendous inequality and the UK government’s war on the poor.’

It comes after the Metropolitan Police made at least 45 arrests yesterday as Just Stop Oil group attempted to block parts of Westminster with another sit-down protest.

On Saturday, 24 people were arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway.

The group has also said it plans to meet daily in October at 11am outside Downing Street to ‘occupy Westminster’.

YESTERDAY — Protesters block the road in a demonstration at Piccadilly Circus in London

OCTOBER 8 — A man is removed by police during a Just Stop Oil protest at Green Park

OCTOBER 7 — Just Stop Oil activists block Vauxhall Bridge Road in Central London last week

OCTOBER 6 — Just Stop Oil activists at Trafalgar Square in London as their protests continue

OCTOBER 5 — Police speak to Just Stop Oil protesters block a road leading into Westminster

OCTOBER 4 — Climate activists from Just Stop Oil block the roads around Parliament Square

OCTOBER 3 — Police try to move Just Stop Oil protesters blocking roads in Trafalgar Square

OCTOBER 2 — Police wach as Just Stop Oil of protesters occupy Waterloo Bridge in London

OCTOBER 1 — Activists occupy Parliament Square as Just Stop Oil carry out more protests

There were further scenes of chaos over the weekend as vegans joined eco protesters by pouring milk over roads and covering shopfronts with paint.

A Just Stop Oil spokesman said today: ‘Our supporters will be returning – today, tomorrow and the next day – and the next day after that – and every day until our demand is met: no new oil and gas in the UK.

‘We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence peaceful people.

‘Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities.’

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