London, Europe Brief News – Climate activists from the Just Stop Oil environmental group have blocked London’s Park Lane and spray-painted the front of a luxury car showroom in their latest protest.
The latest protest comes after two women threw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers masterpiece – estimated to be worth £72.5 million – at the National Gallery.
One was then filmed spraying the front of Aston Martin’s showroom with bright orange paint.
It comes after Home Secretary Suella Braverman outlined plans to crack down on such protests as part of the Public Order Bill.
Ms Braverman, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Nadhim Zahawi met this morning to apply for a new injunction against Just Stop Oil causing disruption on London’s roads, Sky News understands.
Transport for London already has an order against Insulate Britain, which engages in similar activities, but a separate one needs to be taken out for Just Stop Oil.
Under the home secretary’s plans a new criminal offence would be created for disrupting the functioning of key infrastructure such as airports, railways and oil refineries.
On Sunday the protester spraying paint was heard saying: “We will not be stopped by injunctions that are intended to silence protest. We are a non-violent civil disobedience movement.
“We know that the injunctions against us are irrelevant in comparison to mass starvation, with the genocidal policies our government is pushing for, with the 100 fossil fuel licences in the North Sea.”
