'How much pollution are you causing?': Furious driver confronts JSO
‘How much pollution are you causing?’: Furious driver confronts Just Stop Oil protesters as their latest London slow-march causes tailback – before police clear the road in TWO MINUTES and arrest 14
- Just Stop Oil protests have shown no sign of drying up amid rush hour fury
Just Stop Oil’s rush hour traffic disruption continued today, prompting a member of the public to confront them, but police tactics to stop them have now been refined.
Now-familiar scenes of the eco-zealots and their orange and white banners unfolded at Moorgate in London just after 8.15am.
Enraged members of the public frustrated at the slow walking in the road remonstrated with the activists.
One shouted at them: ‘People are trying to go about their daily business. How much pollution and traffic are you causing?’
Enraged members of the public frustrated at the slow walking in the road remonstrated with the activists
Just Stop Oil climate activists slow march along The Strand in central London this morning
But the Met Police appear to have refined their approach to the protesters to such success they are able to disperse them almost immediately.
Finally! Met police get tough on Just Stop Oil
By 8.30am they imposed Section 12 conditions on the march, as they have done in previous days, leading to JSO leaving the road.
Then 22 minutes later protesters were back, but this time in Whitehall for another slow walk.
It took police only two minutes this time to convince them to leave the road.
Eight minutes passed before the activists popped up again at King Charles Street.
Protesters then massed at Parliament Square, where police again imposed Section 12 conditions.
Some did not move and at 9.19am 14 people who stayed in the road were arrested for breaching the conditions.
Yesterday JSO moaned about the Section 12 orders curtailing their antics.
A spokesperson had fumed: ‘The Public Order Bill and specifically Section 12 notices are being used to remove the British public’s right to peacefully oppose government policies that threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
A Metropolitan police officer moves along a member of the public after he remonstrated with Just Stop Oil climate activists slow marching along The Strand
The Just Stop Oil protesters want the end of new fossil fuel projects before they stop campaign
JSO say they will continue their disruption until the government agrees to their demands
‘Marching has been an integral means of bringing about social change for centuries, be it for those seeking universal suffrage, those seeking to gain equality, or those seeking to make transport accessible for disabled people.’
Just Stop Oil have angered motorists since they came into existence in February last year.
They say they will continue their disruption until the government agrees to their demands.
The protesters want the end of new fossil fuel projects.
Metropolitan police officers arrest Just Stop Oil climate activists who were slow marching to Parliament Square
Just Stop Oil climate activists slow march along Whitehall in central London earlier today
One of the protesters was arrested for not going off the road after Section 12 orders imposed
One of those taking action this morning, Sai Fingerhood, 35, veterinary pathologist and lecturer, from Guildford, said: ‘The current and increasingly severe global climate catastrophe will overwhelmingly impact poorer, less well-resourced communities.
‘Knowing this, I feel it’s my moral obligation to do what I can to mitigate this catastrophe; part of that is actively demanding an end to new oil licences and investment in alternative energy sources.’
‘We are responsible not for what has happened, but for what can happen.
‘I know that change is hard, but eventually it won’t be possible. The future is now, and what we do today is all that matters.’
What is Section 12 of the Public Order Act?
A Section 12 order under the Public Order Act 1986 relates to ‘imposing conditions on public processions’. It states:
- If the senior police officer, having regard to the time or place at which and the circumstances in which any public procession is being held or is intended to be held and to its route or proposed route, reasonably believes that –
- (a) it may result in serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community, or
- (b) the purpose of the persons organising it is the intimidation of others with a view to compelling them not to do an act they have a right to do, or to do an act they have a right not to do, he may give directions imposing on the persons organising or taking part in the procession such conditions as appear to him necessary to prevent such disorder, damage, disruption or intimidation, including conditions as to the route of the procession or prohibiting it from entering any public place specified in the directions.
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