Just Stop Oil
Just Stop Oil was a British environmental activist group primarily focused on the issue of human-caused climate change. The group aimed to force the British government to commit to ending new fossil fuel licensing and production using civil resistance, nonviolent direct action, traffic obstruction, and vandalism.
The group was founded in February 2022 and began protesting at English oil terminals in April 2022. The group has received criticism for its disruptive and often illegal methods of activism. In response to tactics used by the group, successive British governments introduced or increased criminal penalties for non-violent direct action, which resulted in numerous members being given prison sentences.
On, the group announced its intention to disband in April 2025 and regroup using less adversarial campaign strategies.
Views and methods
Just Stop Oil opposes the United Kingdom government granting new fossil fuel licensing and production agreements; on its website, it calls for the government to stop all future consents and licensing agreements related to the development, exploration, and production of fossil fuels in the country. The group supports investment in renewable energy, and says that buildings need to have better thermal insulation to avoid wasting energy.The group describes itself as decentralised and non-hierarchical, with activists in the group operating in autonomous blocs that share resources but have no formal leadership.
The group favours nonviolent direct action and civil resistance and follows an approach of general social disruption, similar to the methods of climate activist groups Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, although favouring cultural institutions as protest targets.
In January 2024, at a meeting at the Old Print Works in Birmingham, Just Stop Oil was constituted as one of four groups under a central coordinating group called Umbrella. The other three groups under 'Umbrella' are: Assemble, Robin Hood, and Youth Demand.
Funding
Just Stop Oil reports that all their funding is through donations, with the group accepting both traditional currency and cryptocurrencies. In April 2022, it was reported that Just Stop Oil's primary source of funding was donations from the US-based Climate Emergency Fund. Through that fund, a notable donor to the group has been Aileen Getty, a descendant of the Getty family which founded the Getty Oil company. In response, the Climate Emergency Fund stated that Getty did not work in the fossil fuel industry herself.In October 2023, green energy industrialist Dale Vince, who had donated over £340,000 to Just Stop Oil, announced he no longer planned to fund Just Stop Oil. He said: "under the current government, protest cannot work. I would go so far as to say that anything that could feed the Tories' culture-war narrative is counter-productive".
Protests
2022
BAFTA Film Awards
On 13 March, four activists wearing 'Just Stop Oil' T-shirts disrupted the 75th British Academy Film Awards.Football matches
On 20 March, two supporters attempted to disrupt a football match at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in London, but were intercepted. On 21 March, one supporter stopped play at a football match at Goodison Park in Liverpool when he ran onto the pitch and cable tied himself to a goalpost by his neck. The following day, one supporter briefly made it onto the pitch at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton. On 24 March, six supporters attempted to disrupt a match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London. All were removed quickly, but the match was briefly stopped.Oil company protests and sabotage
Beginning on 1 April, activists carried out England-wide blockades of ten critical oil facilities, intending to cut off the supply of petrol to South East England. They claimed they were inspired by the UK lorry drivers' protests in 2000 that paralysed petrol distribution. On 14 April, Just Stop Oil activists stopped and surrounded an oil tanker in London, causing congestion on the M4 motorway. On 15 April, supporters targeted Kingsbury, Navigator and Grays oil terminals, blockading roads and climbing onto oil tankers. The same day it was reported that Navigator Thames, ExxonMobil, and Valero had secured civil injunctions to prevent protest at their oil terminals. On 19 April, Just Stop Oil suspended its actions against fuel distribution for a week in the hope of action from the government. On 28 April, about 35 Just Stop Oil supporters sabotaged petrol pumps at two M25 motorway service stations.British Grand Prix
On 3 July, a group of Just Stop Oil supporters walked onto the track at the 2022 British Grand Prix after the race had been suspended due to a crash on the opening lap and sat down on the asphalt. They were arrested by police. Formula One drivers Sergio Pérez, Lewis Hamilton, and Carlos Sainz said they supported the protestors' cause but that they should not have put themselves at risk of physical harm. F1 president Stefano Domenicali criticised the protesting method and did not comment on the cause. Before the event, the Northamptonshire Police warned they had "creditable intelligence" that a group of protesters were planning to disrupt the race and potentially attempt a track invasion and that the protest would be related to environmental issues, but the warning did not mention Just Stop Oil by name.Art galleries
Two supporters glued themselves to the frame of Vincent van Gogh's Peach Trees in Blossom at the Courthald Institute of Art on 30 June. Both were found guilty of causing criminal damage to the frame; one was imprisoned for three weeks and the other received a suspended sentence.Two supporters glued themselves to the frame of John Constable's 1821 painting The Hay Wain at the National Gallery in London on 4 July. They covered the painting with a printed illustration that reimagined The Hay Wain as an "apocalyptic vision of the future" that depicted "the climate collapse and what it will do to this landscape". The two people were subsequently arrested by police and the painting was removed for examination by conservators.
A group of supporters glued themselves to the frame of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper painting at the Royal Academy of Arts on 5 July. 'No New Oil' was spray painted on a wall underneath the painting. In February 2023, these activists were fined £486 each for causing unintended criminal damage but found not guilty to a further charge of causing damage to a piece of furniture that they had not been near.
On 14 October, two Just Stop Oil protesters, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, threw tomato soup at the fourth version of Vincent van Gogh's 1888 work, The Arles Sunflowers, in the National Gallery, and then glued their hands to the wall below the painting before delivering a verbal statement. The painting was protected by glass, a factor Just Stop Oil said they had taken into account, and was not damaged; however, the frame, itself of significant value, suffered some slight damage. The rotating sign outside Scotland Yard was also spray-painted orange. More than 20 arrests were made. This act of vandalism garnered much less sympathy compared to Just Stop Oil's earlier protests. A witness said to The Guardian, "They may be trying to get people to think about the issues but all they end up doing is getting people really annoyed and angry." Emma Camp with Reason magazine reported that "The protest was probably ineffective on its own terms too. Throwing a can of tomato soup at a precious work of art has little to do with fighting fossil fuels." Vox noted that "...much of the media and public attention was negative, with many questioning the efficacy of the protest and criticising the protesters for hurting their own cause." Others defended the actions of the protesters.
Plummer and Holland were charged with criminal damage after causing £10,000 worth of damage to the gold-coloured frame of the glass-covered painting, and were jailed for 2 years and 20 months, respectively. The judge commented during sentencing that "You clearly think your beliefs give you the right to commit crimes when you feel like it. You do not."
London protests
On 26 August, the group blocked seven petrol stations in Central London and vandalised fuel pumps. Forty-three people around London were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.Around October, Just Stop Oil started a months-long protest in London. Throughout the period members blocked roads and bridges in London, including in Islington, Abbey Road, High Holborn/Kingsway, four bridges across the Thames, Westminster, as well as the M25 motorway. Just Stop Oil staged 32 days of disruption from the end of September and throughout October, which the Metropolitan Police said resulted in 677 arrests with 111 people charged.
On 17 October, two supporters scaled the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which connects the M25 between Essex and Kent, causing its closure. One of the climbers, Morgan Trowland, was a bridge design engineer from London. The closure resulted in of congestion on both directions of the bridge. After 36 hours, the protesters agreed with police to leave the bridge, and were arrested. The bridge remained closed for another 6 hours. The two were sentenced to a combined 5 years and seven months in jail. Also on 17 October, the group spray-painted the exterior of an Aston Martin car showroom on Park Lane, prompting criticism from Richard Hammond.
On 20 October, about 20 members spray-painted the exterior windows of Harrods in Knightsbridge. Two members of the group were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
On 24 October, two Just Stop Oil protesters smeared cake on a waxwork of King Charles III at Madame Tussauds.
On 25 October, protesters sprayed paint on 55 Tufton Street, a building housing climate change denial think tanks. On 26 October, police arrested more than a dozen activists who blocked Piccadilly and spray-painted luxury car showrooms in Mayfair.
On 31 October, activists targeted buildings used by the Home Office, MI5, the Bank of England and News Corp, spraying orange paint on each and demanding an end to new oil and gas licences. The targets were chosen because they represent "the four pillars that support and maintain the power of the fossil fuel economy", the group said. Six people were arrested by the Metropolitan Police.