At the start of this week, climate activists from the Just Stop Oil coalition defied various injunctions to once again interrupt the flow of oil from refineries in the Midlands and South East. They sat in the way, climbed on oil tankers and occupied secret tunnels under access roads.

On Wednesday, three petrol stations on the M25 were put out of commission by blockades, and petrol pumps were decommissioned by breaking their displays and payment screens, or spraying them with paint.

Among those taking part were doctors, gardeners, scientists, grandparents and students – ordinary people driven to extreme acts by their fear that our governments are failing to protect us, too influenced by rich elites or corporate profits to enact the huge changes which scientists are demanding in order to avert extinction.

Early this morning, around 50 activists targeted several petrol stations in central, south and west London, again with a mixture of blockades and damage to infrastructure. Real Media filmed a small group who decommissioned the Texaco garage on Albert Embankment and the Applegreen station in Kennington, where they were arrested.

Police there described the climate action as ‘the most militant’ they’d seen. A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said : “You would break a window to save a trapped child’s life, right? Our Government’s inaction on the Climate Crisis is trapping billions of children into a future of collapse. We stop when they stop.

Despite prison sentences handed out to protesters by courts without juries and by judges with family connections to the oil industry, Just Stop Oil seems to keep growing and is forging new coalition partners. They are calling for a mass act of civil resistance to coincide with the rise in energy costs on October 1st.