Updated October 27th, 2022 at 16:38 IST

'Can't take our will': Just Stop Oil group clashes with locals in London, posters ripped

The Just Stop Oil protesters protested 'to prevent the annihilation of the human race' in the UK's London as govt plans to issue new oil licenses.

Reported by: Rucha Pramanick
Image: Twitter/@PaulBrown_UK | Image:self
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The UK-based group Just Stop Oil has invited the ire of several people after their high-profile demonstrations. The group is known to stage protests in several parts of London. The group once again held a protest in the city, where they were seen clashing with the locals.

The official handle of Just Stop Oil retweeted a video originally posted by Paul Brown, a vlogger at London News. In the video, people were seen snatching and ripping off the protestors' banners. He captioned the video as: "More public ripping the banners of the just stop oil protesters, getting more and more heated, fighting will be next - still no police". Responding to the post, the group wrote, "You can take our banners, but you can't take our will to prevent the annihilation of the human race."

Just Stop Oil is a UK-based climate change activists' protest group

Just Stop Oil demands "that the UK government makes a statement that it will immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK." On Thursday morning, 31 activists walked onto Cannon St, Queen Victoria Station and Garlick Hill near Mansion House tube station and blocked the road by sitting on the road with banners, as per Metro. Some of the protesters even glued themselves to the tarmac and locked themselves with each other.

One of the protestors said, "I’m taking action because the status quo needs to change; we cannot continue using fossil fuels when we know it is causing increasingly severe weather and making areas of the world uninhabitable. I’m in civil resistance because I believe people’s health, and the health of our planet, is more important than the wealth of a few".

Though Just Stop Oil asserts that they have been protesting peacefully, several people have called them out for their aggressive protests. Social-cause activist and tennis legend Martina Navratilova tweeted against the activists when they defaced Van Gogh's painting, "Effing morons- this is not the way to protest!"

Since the campaign began on April 1, the activists have been arrested 1900 times, with seven protestors currently in prison.

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Published October 27th, 2022 at 16:38 IST