Eco protesters have blocked service stations and damaged pumps on the M25, enraging drivers at the height of rush hour on the UK’s busiest motorway.
Nine people have been arrested as they attempt to force the government to act now on fossil fuels by damaging petrol pups so that no fuel is available.
At least 32 activists from Just Stop Oil have blocked Clacket Lane, Cobham and Thurrock services, and also claim to have disrupted petrol and diesel reserves from regional depots since yesterday. The depots affected included Navigator, Grays and Kingsbury.
Police are at the scene and have arrested nine people on suspicion of criminal damage, and in a statement, Surrey Police said activists had reportedly damaged fuel pumps and glued themselves to the forecourts.
At present, there’s no fuel available from services on both sides of Clacket Lane and Cobham.
Just Stop Oil has carried out a string of measures in current months to try and pressure the government to take more action to transition to a low carbon economy amid the climate problem.
Protesters had previously barricaded roads and other fuel depots across the country, and last month various activists glued themselves to several priceless works of art in London’s museums.
Pieces targeted included Van Gogh’s Peach Trees In Blossom and John Constable’s The Hay Wain.
Activists are now facing the UK court system after previous actions such as these and repeatedly thwarting various areas of the M25.
Several protesters, who the group say acted peacefully, have been remanded in custody while they await trial, which will probably take months. This may be postponed even further after criminal barristers voted to strike from September earlier this week.
The group barricaded the entrance to fuel stations at the service stations, starting at 5 am this morning, unfurling banners reading, ‘Just Stop Oil’.
In a statement on the group’s website, Adam 53, from Gloucestershire demonstrated why he’d decided to disrupt fuel reserves today, and he said that in twenty years’ time, when his grandchildren point out that we knew about the devastation and suffering that the climate crisis would bring, he didn’t want to have to tell them that he just sat at home and worried about it. He wanted to be able to tell them that he did what he could.
The group added that this climate crisis was evolving as the worst cost of living crisis since the 1930s hit with millions being pushed into poverty as oil and grain companies make record earnings and starvation stalks the globe.
I can understand why people are protesting, but if they believe that damaging property will get the government on their side, then they’re so wrong because the government will just dig their feet in even further.
These people have convinced themselves that vandalising property will help their cause, but it won’t, and what they’ve done is shameful and dangerous, but then someone has to take a stand – at least they’re not being sheep, and it’s without a doubt that the United Kingdom is in a mess.
Most people blamed Brexit, but I don’t believe that the UK realised just how bad our politicians were until after Brexit, which demonstrated their lack of incompetence, capability and decency, and it seems that none of the players can produce anyone good because all of them subscribe to the same little conspiracy of values.
The missing point here is that our government want a Utopia – no oil, no gas, no cars, no aircraft, no powered boats, except human power. No lights, no plastics – it all sounds a bit like the Middle Ages to me and I’m pleased I was born at a time when I won’t be around to see it all.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 