The Just Stop Oil coalition has been engaged in direct action civil resistance for over two weeks, shutting down oil refineries and distribution centres, and causing fuel shortages across the south east.
Today they announced they will suspend their campaign for a week. They’ve made a public statement and also sent a letter to the Prime Minister, both of which were read out by two young activists at the gates of Downing Street this morning.
They say their pause will come to an end from 25th April, and they will resume a campaign of escalating civil resistance if their demand to Mr Johnson is not met. They have asked him to make a public announcement that the government will halt all licensing and consents for future exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.
Such a government undertaking would actually accord with the recommendations of the IPCC, the International Energy Agency, the UN General Secretary António Guterres and a multitude of scientists, academics and government advisers.
In the words of Claudia Penna Rojas, 24, a young activist who read out the JSO statement:“The era of protest, marches and petitions is drawing to a close. Either we put our bodies in the way of the machine, or we accept the loss of our only home.”
