Just Stop Oil glue themselves to road outside terminal in Warwickshire
Eco mob glue themselves to road outside oil terminal in Warwickshire on FIFTH day of chaos – as total arrested in UK fuel protests tops 275
- Activists from Just Stop Oil block critical oil facilities at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire
- 20 protesters are involved in today’s action with group claiming five have been arrested so far
- Police have already arrested 275 people as fuel protests have caused havoc since last Friday
Published: 12:16, 5 April 2022 | Updated: 13:08, 5 April 2022
Activists from Just Stop Oil today blocked critical oil facilities for the fifth day in a row – with police having already arrested a total of 275 people as the series of fuel protests continue to cause havoc across the UK.
Some 20 protesters from the environmental organisation sat down in the road with banners at the gate to the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire this morning, which they said was causing tankers to be turned away.
The group claimed five people have been arrested, while those remaining were either glued to the road or locked on – and a roadblock was also established on a tanker route to and from the terminal near Junction 9 on the M42.
Warwickshire Police said today that a total of eight activists had been arrested, and this brings the UK total to 283.
Demonstrators from Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have been working together to block access to oil terminals across England over the past four days, demanding that the Government stops new oil and gas projects.
They also claimed today that supporters of the group who had dug a secret network of tunnels at the Navigator Oil terminal in Thurrock, Essex, remained underground as part of the action despite going 60 hours with no food.
It comes as UK motorists continue to suffer at the pumps with petrol prices hitting record levels in recent weeks after Brent crude oil hit a high of £128 last month – up from lows of £19 seen at the peak of the pandemic.
Police on the scene as the eco protesters block a road leading to the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire this morning
Activists from Just Stop Oil sit on an oil tanker as they block the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire this morning
Some 20 protesters sit down in the road with banners at the gate to the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire this morning
The environmental protesters from Just Stop Oil block the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire this morning
Among the activists in Kingsbury today was Thalia Carr, 60, from Oxfordshire, who said: ‘The IPCC said yesterday that nobody is taking action at the speed we need to avoid wars, starvation and billions of refugees which will be the inevitable result of a broken climate with multiple extreme weather events.
‘How can that be? I’m sure it makes most people think, ‘well it can’t be that bad’.
Unfortunately that’s not true. It is that bad and no-one is doing anything on the scale and at the speed we need.
Calls to end the fossil fuel age as un sets out latest stark climate warning
United Nations scientists have called for an end to the fossil fuel age, as a new report warns immediate action is needed to curb dangerous climate change.
Meeting goals agreed by countries to limit temperature rises to 1.5C or below 2C to avoid the worst impacts of climate change requires rapid, deep and immediate greenhouse gas emissions cuts in all areas, a new UN report says.
And it calls for ‘substantial reductions’ in the use of fossil fuels to curb emissions.
While there are signs of action, the world is heading for more than 3C of global warming, scientists from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warn.
Jim Skea, co-chair of the team behind the report, said the world was ‘definitely not on track’ to limit warming to 1.5C, beyond which scientists warn increasingly severe floods, droughts, hits to crop yields, rising seas and wildlife die-offs are expected.
The report ‘concludes that unless there are immediate and deep emission reductions across all sectors, limiting warming to 1.5C will be beyond reach’, he warned.
And he said: ‘We know what to do, we know how to do it, and now it’s up to us to take action.’
One of the report’s authors, Jan Christoph Minx, from the University of Leeds, said: ‘We really need to change course, we need to end the age of fossil fuels and enter an age of climate policy. This has not happened yet.’
As the UN science body released the third part of its sixth assessment report, detailling the solutions to climate change, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described it as a ‘file of shame’ of empty pledges made by countries so far, and accused governments of lying over the action they were taking.
‘Climate promises and plans must be turned into reality and action now.
It is time to stop burning our planet and start investing in the abundant renewable energy all around us,’ he urged.
The report, which draws on 18,000 studies and sources, pitches scientific findings on climate change into an already heated debate over energy supplies and costs prompted by rising oil and gas prices amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the UK, the Government will set out a new energy strategy on Thursday with expectations of support for offshore wind and new nuclear reactors, but not cheap onshore wind, amid clashes over whether to speed up the shift away from oil and gas or boost domestic fossil fuel supplies.
‘Nothing I have tried so far has made a tiny bit of difference so I am forced to put my whole self out there and hope that the government will listen before it is too late.’
She was referring to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report released yesterday in which United Nations scientists called for an end to the fossil fuel age and warned immediate action was needed to curb dangerous climate change.
Claudia Penna Rojas, 24, a student activist, added: ‘The UN Secretary General said yesterday that the world was on a fast track to climate disaster, so why then is the UK government planning to licence over 40 new oil fields?
‘The reality is that everything good, all that we love, the lives of our children…are all at stake. The need for large-scale, radical civil resistance has never been more urgent. This is the fight for our lives and we all need to be a part of it.
It’s the only chance we’ve got.’
And Miranda Whelehan, 21, a student from Brighton, said: ‘The government and the media sell us a lie that it is impossible to stop oil. We are told there is not enough money for renewables, whilst they drip more than one million pounds an hour into the overflowing pockets of UK oil companies.
‘I do not want a future that is dependent on a resource that funds war, climate breakdown, and poverty. I want to live and I want others to have the future they deserve.
And that is just not possible whilst we continue with oil.’
As of yesterday, police across the UK had arrested a total of 275 people in connection with the fuel protests – including activists who erected bamboo towers outside an oil terminal near London Heathrow Airport yesterday.
Essex Police said they had arrested 10 people yesterday following a number of demonstrations at fuel sites in the county on Friday.
The force added it had now arrested 172 people in total and it was ‘continuing to engage with a small number of people remaining in situ’.
Yesterday, Extinction Rebellion said around 30 protesters returned to the Esso oil facility near Heathrow Airport at 4am, erecting a bamboo structure in front of its entrance.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said four people had been arrested, bringing the total number of arrests following protests in London and Staines to 18.
Warwickshire Police meanwhile said it had arrested 68 people for a range of alleged offences including criminal damage, obstructing a highway and public order offences after weekend protests at Kingsbury Oil Terminal.
West Midlands Police said 13 people had been arrested following a protest at a terminal in Tyburn, Birmingham on Sunday.
Hampshire Police said its figure stood at four arrests after demonstrations took place on Friday at Hythe Terminal in New Road in Hythe and at BP in Hamble Lane and Copse Lane.
Andrew Smith, from Extinction Rebellion, said following the Esso protest: ‘We’re here to say that climate action cannot wait. Right now, governments are choosing to exploit the crisis in Ukraine to hand out oil licences and continue the fossil fuel economy that’s destroying us.
‘The reality is, the UK public wants faster action on climate as the energy crisis hits. We know what is happening and what needs to be done – by acting in favour of corporate interest over the will of the people, the Government is showing contempt for the people who elected them.
YESTERDAY — 30 protesters returned to the Esso oil facility near Heathrow Airport yesterday, erecting a bamboo structure
SUNDAY — Police speak to activists from Just Stop Oil taking part in a blockade at the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire
SATURDAY — Police officers work to free a Just Stop Oil activist involved in a blockade at the Titan Truck Park in Grays, Essex
LAST FRIDAY — Activists from Just Stop Oil block the route of a tanker as they blockade the Esso Birmingham Fuel Terminal
‘How long ago did our Prime Minister say Cop26 was our last chance to save humanity?
And now they’re sidelining climate policy once again.
This is not living in reality.’
The group said further action is expected from this Saturday in London’s Hyde Park.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Any criminal activity will not be tolerated, and swift action is being taken by the police, preventing significant disruption to the public and industry.
‘While we are working to drive down our use of expensive fossil fuels, there will continue to be ongoing demand for oil and gas over the coming decades while we transition to cheaper low-carbon energy.
‘As the Business Secretary has said, turning off our domestic source of gas overnight would put energy security, British jobs and industries at risk, leaving us more dependent on foreign imports.’