Just Stop Oil has come to the end of its second year of operation without much to show for it apart from racking up £20 million in Metropolitan Police costs. That might be why the eco-guerrillas are planning to go regional as a “household name synonymous with orange powder” and harass local Labour candidates while they campaign for election. Guido’s not convinced their reception will be quite as accommodating in Leeds as in London…
Guido’s been having a read through the middle-class hobbyists’ new 2024 strategy document which is focused on haranguing Labour candidates until they agree to revoke newly granted oil and gas licences, including new Tory licences like Rosebank. Central “strategy teams” will visit “regional mobilisation” units to develop area-specific protest strategy. Just Stop Oil is very specific that “the targets will be Labour politicians for regional actions“. They also plan to “adopt some of the language being used around the Gazan atrocity” to give their messaging a new pizzaz. Wiping the smirk off Labour faces…
The Met is ramping up its publicity campaign against Just Stop Oil – it’s got new graphics and is placing stories in rags of all stripes publicising that since October 2022 JSO marches have cost the police almost £20 million. Over 300 officers every single day are having to be taken off frontline policing to deal with them. The Met’s ramping up: 657 arrests were made over the last five weeks alone…
Community policing in London is at the forefront of our priorities.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) December 7, 2023
Yet hundreds of officers were being taken away from local teams to deal with Just Stop Oil protests every day for five weeks - we made 657 arrests.
Since Oct 2022 the cost of policing JSO is now £19.9 million.
Commander Kyle Gordon, responsible for dealing with JSO, is taking an increasingly exasperated tone, asking JSO to “come forward and speak with us, so we can actually work with them“. Meanwhile, Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall takes a hard line, telling Guido:
“Just Stop Oil protesters have caused nothing but misery for Londoners, taking millions out of the police budget that would have been better spent solving crimes and keeping Londoners safe. While we respect the right to peacefully protest, the police must use their powers to crack down on those who cause needless disruption. As Mayor, I would ensure they do“.
£20 million could pay the salaries of around 200 officers…
Just Stop Oil has launched a campaign to get their “25 year old gantry climber” to the top of the UK charts for Christmas. Louise Harris – who filmed herself crying on the M25, has released a protest song called “We Tried” in which she cries for the duration. It’s got a whopping 3,000 listens on Spotify…
JSO says fans should “spread its message all over the country this Christmas by getting it to No.1” by buying it on the now unused iTunes. The music video for the tear-jerker includes photos of Sunak and Braverman, along with Grant Shapps and Claire Coutinho – two people Guido is sure the public always has on their minds. Other than crying, the aspiring pop star burns photos of herself and hits the ground repeatedly with a crowbar, interspersed with footage of climate protestors getting arrested, and Gandhi. Sure to bring a tear to the eye of punters this Christmas…
Bird-sniffer Chris Packham says, seemingly without irony, that the song is “‘pop, it’s sing-along’. It’s lovely, isn’t it…? No, it isn’t. It’s f***ing horrific, terrifying and tragic“. Meanwhile Brian Eno went with: “This song woke me up. I hope it gets centuries of airtime”. Did he fall asleep halfway through?
Twitter bitch fight of the week goes to the Met Police and Just Stop Oil, as the gloves came off over a dispute on who was to blame for blocking the road on Waterloo Bridge. After Just Stop Oil protesters brought traffic to a halt, including an ambulance with a patient on board, the Met announced on X that arrests had been made as activists refused to get off the road. Ding ding…
This is some of the congestion which JSO are causing on Waterloo Bridge.
One of the vehicles is an ambulance on blue lights which is not able to get past.
Officers are continually telling the activists to move out the road so it can pass while making arrests. pic.twitter.com/E2kiM4Wksk
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 8, 2023
Just Stop Oil fought back in their usual righteous fashion, protesting that it was the Met officers that were blocking the ambulance, not them. The Met snapped back at JSO, writing that the bridge was blocked thanks to “your activists…If [they] got up and moved to the pavement we could have reopened the road to release the traffic“. An unusual display of animation from the Met…
The bridge is blocked because your activists are laying in the road, as your video shows. If the people who are under arrest worked with us, got up and moved to the pavement we could have reopened the road to release the traffic.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 8, 2023
Good to see the Met sticking it to them online, now how about on the streets…
Middle-class eco-guerillas Just Stop Oil are asking sympathisers to join their rapid-response “Police Station Support” teams. These crack squads will coordinate on private messaging app Signal to wait outside police stations and deliver “flasks of hot tea, biscuits and snacks” to emerging JSO criminals. There’s a pressing need – 62 protestors were arrested in one fell swoop on Monday…
JSO are calling for all hands on deck for “support” now that they’re “stretching the police thin” by marching for 10 minutes and getting arrested. Their incarcerated protesters will walk blinking out of police stations “far from home, without a phone and tired after hours in a police cell“. And desperate to get back to their silverware…
The Met are chuffed they managed to turn up to a Just Stop Oil protest in Parliament Square four minutes after it started. 62 protestors were arrested and the road was cleared after only 10 minutes of marching. Setting records…
