Just Stop Oil, the climate group based in the U.K., known for tossing cornstarch on Stonehenge and throwing soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers,” announced Thursday that it would cease these kinds of protests.
The announcement came as some of its members serve jail sentences, including the group’s founder Roger Hallam, for their role in blocking traffic on the M25 — the equivalent of an interstate highway — surrounding London. It also comes a week after a North Dakota jury ordered Greenpeace to pay $667 million in trespass and other claims to an oil and gas company over its enrollment in a pipeline protest in 2016, a verdict the group is appealing.
While climate activists say their rights to protest fossil fuels are being trampled on, critics say their actions too often veered away from peaceful protests into criminal acts. Rather than spawn widespread support as the activists hoped, when the protests crossed the line, now they face real consequences. Critics say it’s part of a shift in the national dialogue on climate and energy issues in the wake of President Donald Trump’s reelection. People are no longer willing to look the other way when these activists’ behavior runs afoul of the law.
“It’s the Trump effect. There’s a cultural shift throughout the West that’s going on right now, and that was reflected in the election of Donald Trump,” Jeff Reynolds, senior editor for Restoration News, told Just the News.
Crossing the line in the EU
Over the course of seven days in November 2022, members of Just Stop Oil climbed over the gantries at various points along M25, which disrupted traffic along every sector of the encircling London highway. During the trial, the jury heard evidence about people who missed funerals, missed flights and students missing exams. A child with special needs was unable to take his medication, which made him “volatile.” […]
— Read More: justthenews.com
