(London) British police arrested more than 60 environmental activists Monday in London in front of Parliament where the group Just Stop Oil launched a month of mobilization against the British government’s new oil and gas projects.
The arrests of 62 activists took place in the morning on the road around Parliament Square, where the Palace of Westminster is located, London police wrote on X.
Activists had just started marching there, disrupting traffic.
According to a press release from the Just Stop Oil organization, which reports 65 arrests, the police positioned themselves across the road to prevent the activists from walking peacefully, and immediately began to arrest them.
The activists, accustomed to punchy actions, said they were ready to march peacefully “today and every day, until the police take measures to pursue the real criminals, who facilitate the exploitation of new deposits oil and gas.
Every day in November, Just Stop Oil plans to organize marches of this type in London to protest against the hundreds of additional oil and gas licenses in the North Sea, granted by the British government last July, even if it means Stop.
The executive justifies its policy by the need for energy security while the consumption of fossil fuels continues during the transition to renewable energies.
The conservative government is very upset against the shocking actions of organizations such as Just Stop Oil, unpopular with motorists, and has toughened the legislation to allow their arrest, giving rise to numerous trials in recent months.
On Monday, two activists from the organization who blocked the M25 ring road around London in November 2022 despite a court ban were given suspended prison sentences.
A judge at the High Court in London sentenced Theresa Norton, 65, and Mair Bain, 36, to 80 and 40 days in prison respectively, which they will not serve unless they reoffend within the next two years.
The two activists as well as ten other people – who escaped sanctions because they had not been informed of this ban – caused “massive disruption” during this action, the courts concluded.