⏰ At 8am, 15 Just Stop Oil supporters walked onto the road at Bricklayers Arms roundabout in South London demanding the government halt all new oil and gas licences.
Sam Griffiths, 47, a Dad and designer from London said:
"I feel sick seeing how little is happening to address climate breakdown, the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. And our Government is actively making things worse. Granting over 100 new oil licences is indefensible"
💬 "I started actively supporting Just Stop Oil after we had 40°C in the UK for the first time in recorded history. It scared the shit out of me. I looked at my boy and realised I couldn't just continue to do nothing."
"This government have been asleep at the wheel... pumping out more oil and gas. It's not going to bring the price of energy down. It's not going to improve the cost of living. It's just setting us on a path to climate hell".
🚔 They were arrested after being on a zoom call discussing nonviolent civil resistance, which a Sun journalist infiltrated.
⚖️ At last week’s trial, Judge Hehir ruled that climate issues were ‘irrelevant and inadmissible’, dismissing them as mere ‘political opinion and belief’.
🚨 BREAKING: JUST STOP OIL SUPPORTERS FOUND GUILTY OF CONSPIRACY
⚖️ The judge has promised "long, long prison sentences". They are being remanded until sentencing next Thursday.
💀 This decision comes at the same time as @UKLabour @Ed_Miliband enacts Just Stop Oil's demand.
📝 The controversial case was witnessed by UN Rapporteur Michel Forst.
❌ The 5 were arrested 9 times and remanded 7 times during the trial, which had heavy reporting restrictions.
🇬🇧 @ForstMichel said: “The imposition of such sanction is not only appalling but may also violate the United Kingdom’s obligations under international law”.
⛓️ Many of the defendants have already spent time on remand for this charge, including Daniel Shaw who was imprisoned for 113 days.
🛢 This case is the first time a prosecutor has admitted that issuing new oil and gas licences “risks catastrophic and irreversible harm”, representing a “existential threat to humanity”
🦺 Cressie gave her defence statement to the jury today at Isleworth Crown Court, before @ChrisGPackham was called as a witness.
🧵 Thread of her statement.
📷 Photo credit: Denise Baker
On 20th July 2022, I climbed up onto a gantry over the M25. I hung up two banners – one said “Just Stop Oil” (the campaign in whose name I was taking action) and the other said “40 Degrees” (this was a day after the 40C heatwave scorched the UK, burnt down houses and left people dead).
The prosecution have said that my intention was clearly to stop the traffic. However, it is under oath that I say I was not expecting the police to close the entire motorway. I thought it was possible they may decide to close one or two lanes, or perhaps slow the speed of the traffic, but I was very surprised when they closed the whole thing. I was surprised because I was conducting a nonviolent, peaceful protest, the intention of which was to gain media attention and create public pressure on the government to stop new oil and gas.
The Chairman of the @Conservatives is tweeting lies about protesters being glued to The Cenotaph.
The reality is that they were dragged off the road and arrested by police for protesting in the street, under legislation his corrupt party introduced.
@Conservatives They were marching, peacefully, along Whitehall to Parliament Square. But that's not stopped @LeeAndersonMP_ from quite literally politicising the Cenotaph and war dead. We are disgusted and appalled.
We need everyone to stand up to this madness. We are holding a public march on the 18th of November. All are welcome.
This was previously planned to be non-arrestable, but we can now no longer guarantee safety from arrest.
🚨 BREAKING: Just Stop Oil begin actions on Monday, 30th Oct. This is our message to @metpoliceuk chief, Sir Mark Rowley:
Until you prosecute the criminals responsible for crimes against humanity and acts of genocide, Just Stop Oil supporters will remain in civil resistance.
The facts are clear. New oil and gas licensing in 2023 will kill hundreds of millions of people, adding to the already mounting global death toll from climate breakdown. To know these facts and still encourage drilling for UK new oil and gas is reckless and immoral.
The politicians planning to max out the UK’s oil and gas reserves are not directly seeking mass death—the primary aim of their support for fossil fuels is profit and power. To them, it’s an inconvenient side effect that millions and eventually billions of people will die.
🚨 Just Stop Oil March On as Sunak Plans to Ditch Climate Pledges
🦺 At around 8am, 25 Just Stop Oil supporters began marching in four groups in Southwark and Tower Hamlets. Two marches converged on Tower Bridge, were issued a Section 12 notice and were off the road by 8:30am. https://t.co/rChqIECGjgtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
📃 The mini-march in Vauxhall was issued a Section 12 notice and was off the road by 8:10. A mini-march in the City of London started at 8:52 and was issued a Section 12 by 9:15, just before Blackfriars Bridge. Further marches are expected later this morning.
👎 Today’s marches were spurred on by the fact that the Government is signalling that it may fail to honour its commitments to essential climate funds. Commentators have said that @RishiSunak risks “shattering” the UK’s global standing by slipping out of its £11.6bn commitments.