Oxfordshire Just Stop Oil protesters arrested in London

The arrests come as hundreds of Just Stop Oil supporters were arrested for bringing the capital to a standstill for the third week in a row.

Just Stop Oil, a coalition of different groups, is demanding the Government commits to ending all new oil and gas projects in the UK.

READ MORE: Banbury roads closed for Michaelmas Fair 2022

Activists from the county joined other supporters from across the Midlands in blocking the road in front of New Scotland Yard on Friday (October 14), as one supporter sprayed the Metropolitan Police sign with orange paint.

On Sunday the same group blocked Park Lane, a four-lane road running beside Hyde Park, and sprayed orange paint over a nearby Aston Martin car showroom.

Clive Gillam was arrested in London (Image: Just Stop Oil)

Clive Gillam, 75, a retired Chartered Accountant from Oxford was arrested for the first time on Friday and was re-arrested when he took action again in Park Lane on Sunday.

He said: “I feel I have no option but to take action with Just Stop Oil as our Government is set to add to CO2 emissions by fracking, licencing new gas and oil fields and rolling back on renewable investment.”

53-year-old Dr. Jessica Upton, a vet and a foster carer and also from Oxford, was arrested on Friday.

She said: “How can I be caring properly for the foster children I look after without fighting for a future for them? I can’t stand by and do nothing. The Government is abandoning them by ploughing ahead with fossil fuel development.”

Dr. Jessica Upton was also arrested in London (Image: Just Stop Oil)

A spokesperson from the campaign said “We will be returning day after day until our demand is met – no new UK oil and gas. We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by injunctions sought to silence nonviolent people.

“The Home Secretary is demonstrating that politics is broken. She claims that “this Government will not hesitate to act – and keep the law-abiding majority safe”.

“Yet the greatest threat to law and order is the climate crisis, and the Government she is part of is seeking to extend UK fossil fuel extraction, which the world’s scientists warn will result in the deaths of millions. This is a criminal act.

“The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres has called it ‘moral and economic madness’. We have every right to disrupt, to disobey and to resist.

“The people protecting the rule of law, democracy, our freedoms and our rights are those disrupting traffic in London right now.

“We stand to lose everything we’ve got, so we’ve got to give it everything we’ve got. It’s going to take all of us.

“Step up and take action. Join our weekly zoom calls on Tuesday at 7pm. And join us at Downing Street at 11am every day during October.”

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This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

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