UK Climate Activists Arrested After Blocking Road Outside Buckingham Palace

Campaigners from Just Stop Oil during a protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London, on Oct. 10, 2022. Jonathan Brady/PA Media

Over two dozen climate activists from Just Stop Oil have been arrested after they blocked The Mall outside Buckingham Palace in protest against the expansion of oil and gas projects in the UK.

The Metropolitan Police said 25 arrests had been made at The Mall, after members of Just Stop Oil, a spin-off from Extinction Rebellion, blocked the road for two hours and 15 minutes.

The protesters, who travelled from Scotland, said they felt the need to act after the UK government gave its backing in September to an expansion of oil and gas operations in the North Sea.

Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London, on Oct. 10, 2022. Jonathan Brady/PA Media

Just Stop Oil has been urging the government to begin the process of winding down fossil fuel production in the country.

“We will continue in civil resistance because it is the right thing to do when faced with a harmful government,” a spokesman for the group said on Friday. “The coming weeks will see the disruption in the capital increase until the government makes a statement to end new oil and gas.”

Energy Security

More than 100 licenses may be awarded for the exploration and potential development of 898 blocks and part-blocks in the North Sea, according to the North Sea Transition Authority.

Business and Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said the new licensing round will boost jobs, energy security, and the UK economy.

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg is seen in Westminster, London, on Sept. 21, 2022. Rob Pinney/Getty Images

He also said domestic production of gas “has a lower carbon footprint than importing from abroad.”

The UK government’s Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said that could the new licences could safeguard UK energy supplies and support more than 70,000 jobs in Scotland.

‘Cross the Line’

Just Stop Oil began blockading fuel terminals on April 1, leading to more than 1,000 arrests.

The group was also filmed blockading petrol stations and damaging petrol pumps. On Aug. 26, Just Stop Oil stated on Twitter that they “decommissioned pumps at 7 stations in central London.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman speaking during the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham on Oct. 4, 2022. Jacob King/PA Media

Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the Conservative Party conference on Oct. 4 that she’ll be tough on guerrilla protests by climate protesters and other rioters.

“You can’t just start a riot or glue yourself to the roads and get away with it,” Braverman said. “So whether you’re Just Stop Oil or Insulate Britain or Extinction Rebellion, you cross the line when you break the law, and that’s why we’ll keep putting you behind bars.”

PA Media contributed to this report.