A Just Stop Oil supporter has been arrested on suspicion of planning to organise and/or attend a protest at a UK airport last year. In the latest episode of the ongoing farce that is the UK state – something Alan Ayckbourn would struggle to parody – Joe was nicked in some bizarre pre-crime maneuver by the police.
Just Stop Oil: nicked by the UK pre-crime division
Just Stop Oil shared a clip of Joe’s arrest on X. In it, he said:
It’s been alleged that I’ve been involved in plots of protests at airports about a year ago, and now the police have turned up at my door unannounced, told me they’re going to bash the door down, and are currently going through my room.
🚨 BREAKING: MET POLICE RAID JUST STOP OIL SUPPORTER'S HOME
Joe was arrested this morning for allegedly thinking about taking nonviolent action at airports last year.
For THINKING about taking nonviolent action. LAST YEAR.@YvetteCooperMP is this what democracy looks like? pic.twitter.com/dkIbKcHU6W
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) January 22, 2025
At this point, it is unclear just what protest, if any, Joe was involved in.
As the Canary documented across 2024, Just Stop Oil joined around 21 groups across 12 countries. They staged a range of interventions at 19 international airports across the summer last year, causing serious disruption and having a global impact.
For example, in August six supporters of Just Stop Oil nonviolently blocked the departure gates at Heathrow Airport, causing delays:
Dozens of people were arrested. One of those nicked at Heathrow was Di Bligh who was formerly CEO of Reading Borough Council. She said:
Climate breakdown is endangering all we love. Starvation already threatens those who have done the least to cause this mess. Billions will be on the move as they try to find land they can cultivate, water to drink- any safe place.
Electric cars and windfarms won’t do it: governments must act together before we reach more tipping points into chaos than we can prevent. We need our political leaders to act now, by working with other nations to establish a legally binding treaty to stop the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
However, Joe did not actively take part in a protest – yet cops have nicked him, anyway. Thanks to the government, though, police are allowed to do this – and already have.
Not the first time
As the Canary previously reported, in August 2024 police arrested four Just Stop Oil supporters near Manchester airport on suspicion of conspiring to cause a public nuisance. That is, they were planning to non-violently disrupt Manchester Airport. Police said it was because Just Stop Oil’s actions “would have brought significant delays”.
As you may well remember, this was at the same time police lost control of parts of the UK to far-right race riots.
Yet cops see fit to arrest Just Stop Oil supporters around the notion of pre-crime. And now, Joe is yet another victim of this authoritarian mindset that’s now infesting the UK. We have of course been here before. My late father, a prominent member of the UK Communist Party in the 1950s and 60s, would always recount stories of their meetings where the chair would, during the introduction, give:
A special welcome to our friends at the back.
The friends were, of course, Special Branch – and as the Spycops saga shows the state has always infiltrated anyone who it deems is or could in the future be a threat to it.
However, this pre-emptive action by cops is hitting another level of repression.
Just Stop Oil: martyrs for us all?
As Joe summed up:
Six police officers turned up for an alleged potential protest over a year ago… You can decide whether that’s a good use of resources.
Any rational, decent person would say ‘no’. But despite the planet burning, non-human animals becoming extinct, and marginalised people being further abused and repressed around the world – apparently it’s some kid with a hi-vis and orange leaflets that’s the problem.
Make it make sense.
Featured image via screengrab
