Just Stop Oil: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to seek injunction against protesters after another road blocked

Mayor of London to seek injunction to stop Just Stop Oil from blocking roads amid a wave of protests in the capital.

Protesters threw tins of tomato soup over the Vincent van Gogh painting Sunflowers and sprayed paint over the rotating New Scotland Yard sign on Friday (14 October) before blocking Shoreditch High Street on Saturday (15 October).

The campaigners are calling for the Government to halt all new oil and gas licences and consents. Activists sprayed paint over a luxury car showroom and blocked Park Lane in central London on Sunday (16 October) as the Home Secretary declared a crackdown on protests.

Suella Braverman pledged to stop demonstrators holding the public “to ransom”. She will give the police new powers to take a more “proactive” approach to some protests, with some of the measures specifically targeted at the tactics used by some environmental groups.

Sadiq Khan met with the Home Secretary earlier and has confirmed that he will seek an injunction to prevent Just Stop Oil blocking roads in the capital.

What has the Mayor of London said?

A spokesperson for Mr Khan said: “This morning the Mayor of London met with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Home Secretary, Attorney General, leaders of TfL and the Met Police and others to discuss the ongoing disruption to the capital by Just Stop Oil.

“The Mayor updated the meeting that TfL are preparing an application for an injunction against Just Stop Oil protestors for the impact on TfL roads. TfL has interim injunctions against Insulate Britain, which were recently renewed, however as Just Stop Oil is a new grouping, new injunctions would be required to stop them blocking roads.

“The Mayor regards the climate emergency as the biggest threat facing our world today but he has been clear he supports action against those who refuse to protest safely and lawfully. Ministers attending the meeting also expressed their support for seeking an injunction.”

Have Just Stop Oil launched protests today?

The campaigners, who are calling for the Government to halt all new oil and gas licences and consents, set up the roadblock from 11am on Sunday. Demonstrators sat down in the road, holding large orange banners, with a number gluing themselves to the tarmac or locking themselves together.

One protester then sprayed orange paint over the nearby Aston Martin showroom in Park Lane. Photos and footage from the scene showed police officers trying to talk to those blocking the road while a cordon was set put up around the activists.

Chloe Thomas, 19, a pregnant mother and freelancer from Cannock who joined the action, said: “How do I explain to my daughter in the years to come where the animals went, where the culture went, where the beauty went, why there are no bees and why I can’t put food in her tummy? You know it’s bad, don’t you? As citizens, as humans, as parents and children we have a responsibility and a right under British law to protect ourselves and those we love.”

Patrick Michael John McCarthy, 67, a carer from Telford, who was also at the protest, said: “Please understand these actions are not easy for any of us. It is uncomfortable, sometimes frightening and financially draining, so why do it?

“Because we have seen the devastating truth about the existential threats we face and cannot ‘unsee’ that. The real question is why millions aren’t in civil resistance rather than why I am.”

What measures has the Home Secretary announced?

According to the Home Office, this measures will include protecting access to “essential” goods, services and “key” infrastructure. The proposed public order legislation would create a new criminal offence of interfering with infrastructure such as oil refineries, airports, railways and printing presses.

Such an offence would carry a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. “Locking on” or “going equipped to lock-on” to other people, objects or buildings to cause “serious disruption” could see people imprisoned for six months or hit with an unlimited fine.

A new criminal office of tunnelling to cause serious disruption is also being created, which will carry a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment as well as the potential for an unlimited fine. An offence of going equipped to tunnel will also be created.

The Public Order Bill will return to Parliament next week and Ms Braverman said it is “high time” MPs back it. She added: “The police need strengthened and tougher powers to match the rise in self-defeating protest tactics and that’s what the Public Order Bill will do. It’s high time Parliament got behind it and put the law-abiding majority first.”

The Home Office is also promising that stop-and-search measures and new serious disruption prevention orders will support the police, with the latter targeting those repeatedly convicted of protest-related offences.