Just Stop Oil activists have got more of a moral compass than most of us, and balls of steel too. They’re up to their usual antics today, and good for them.
You wouldn’t think that asking the government to halt new oil and gas licenses – especially when every other party in the Commons wants that – would be too much of an ask, but here we are, and apparently, it is.
This morning, a Met cop dragged one protestor along the road. In the last hour, two pensioners have been arrested for… walking in the road?
🚨 BREAKING: 10 Arrested at Parliament Square for Peacefully Demanding End to New Oil and Gas
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) May 31, 2023
⛓️ Ten Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested at Parliament Square for peacefully marching in the road, demanding that the UK Government immediately halt all new oil and gas… pic.twitter.com/LQ766KmVQH
I know I know, it’s not just walking in the road; it’s breaking the law of course! Thanks to the woefully anti-democratic Public Order Act passing last month, taking part in a simple, peaceful little protest like this one is a criminal offence.
Inhabitants of Normal Island have responded to the concerned, caring activists as we would expect: hatefully, and with little understanding of the issue at hand. Classic.
The reaction so far has been mixed. On the media side, the Torygraph seemed to applaud the physical handling of an activist by the Met, such a famously moral organisation, saying in a headline that officers “finally” are getting tough. Twitter reactions from the public are the usual worst dregs of humankind, with one saying the 81-year-old arrested reverend (yes, really), “She’s old enough to know better”.
Have any of the complainants considered that she might well be wiser than them?
Much like the strikes, being disruptive is the point. If they’re out of sight, they’re out of mind, and would achieve fuck all as a result. We’ve got a government so determined to ignore the people they’re supposed to lead that Just Stop Oil have little other choice than disrupting everyone, and making a big ol’ fuss.
Whatever your gripes with Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, their methods actually get people fired up, one way or another (so fired up in fact, that the government banned them) and that’s no small feat. We’re a burnt-out, beat-down nation, and getting any reaction other than a resigned sigh out of us is a start.