Just Stop Oil students and other supporters marched from New Scotland Yard in solidarity with political prisoners remanded for slow marching in recent weeks. They are calling for political prisoners being held for nonviolent climate protest to be freed, and for the climate criminals responsible for new oil and gas to be charged with genocide.
Just Stop Oil: marching on New Scotland Yard
At 12pm on Saturday 2 December, a crowd of around 80 Just Stop Oil supporters gathered at New Scotland Yard, where they heard testimonies from young political prisoners who have been imprisoned for demanding that the government take basic steps to protect the population by ending new oil and gas:
There are six Just Stop Oil supporters under the age of 25 currently imprisoned for marching, without having even been convicted.
Before the march even started, the Metropolitan Police arrested two people. At least 63 police officers and 18 police vans are accompanying the march. The march stopped at the Supreme Court, before going on to the Crown Prosecution Service headquarters where the marchers staged a sit-down outside the entrance:
🚨 BREAKING: 70 PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE SUPREME COURT DEMAND INVESTIGATION INTO RISHI SUNAK
💀 We know new oil and gas will result in food shortages, flooding and extreme heat. It will kill people. So why isn't our justice system investigating the real criminals?
🛢️ It's time the… pic.twitter.com/PtvbIL2ejg
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) December 2, 2023
One of those arrested before the march could even start today was Daniel Knorr, a biochemistry student from Oxford who said:
I feel an intense amount of responsibility at this time, I have confronted the reality of my future head on. This leaves me with no choice but to try and stop this from happening by any means necessary. The British government is advised by some of the best scientific minds in the world, which have unequivocally told them that they have a matter of years left to avert total catastrophe.
Continuing to licence oil and gas with this knowledge is nothing less than the intentional murder of hundreds of millions at a minimum. The correct response to what is happening is to stop it no matter what, placing your body and freedom in the way if necessary.
“Our weird, fascist government is indifferent”
There are currently eight Just Stop Oil supporters in prison, six of whom have been imprisoned, without trial, for peacefully marching in the road. They are Cressie Gethin (21), Noah Crane (18), Ella Ward (20), Ruby Hamill (19), Chiara Sarti (24), and Phoebe Plummer (22).
Before she was imprisoned, 19 year old Ruby Hamill said:
We are on course to lose all we know and love. Elsewhere, young people my age face torture for their peaceful resistance to a much more present threat. Our weird, fascist government is indifferent. Our demand is a no-brainer.
They join Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, who have been imprisoned for over a year and were sentenced to three years and two years seven months respectively, in the longest sentences ever awarded for peaceful direct action.
Thirteen Just Stop Oil supporters are currently under electronic tag surveillance. There have been 667 arrests of Just Stop Oil supporters since 30 October.
“Alarm bells are ringing”
Just Stop Oil’s fundraiser has currently raised £56,000 in the last 48 hours, and until 10am on 3 December donations to the fund were doubled by a group of generous donors, including Chris Packham.
He said:
Alarm bells are ringing! Good! – the world’s leaders are sleep-walking to oblivion, it’s time they woke up to their responsibilities and found the sense and courage to actually lead us towards environmental stability and recovery.
The group said:
Continued expansion of new oil and gas will bring about the wholesale destruction of ordered society and an end to the rule of law. We are not prepared to watch while the government continues to serve the interests of a few, at the expense of everyone else. It’s up to all of us to come together and resist. It is the will of the overwhelming majority of people that we take the actions necessary to ensure our survival and together we can make it happen.
You can donate to Just Stop Oil’s fundraiser here.
Featured image and additional images via Just Stop Oil
