Met top brass says Just Stop Oil will be ‘brought to justice’ as group tries to scale Downing St gates
The Met Police’s number two in command has vowed to bring Just Stop Oil protesters “to justice” as protestors tried to climb the gates of Downing Street.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist made his comments on LBC this morning after the environmental group made headlines vandalising MI5, the Home Office, Bank of England and HQ of News UK.
Shortly after his comments the group targeted Number 10, blocking Whitehall, and attempting to scale the gates of the country’s most famous street.
Just Stop Oil has sprayed orange paint from fire extinguishers on London businesses and landmarks over the last 33 days, with hundreds arrested. Activists are protesting the granting of 100 oil and gas licences.
Twist told LBC that “what the police need to do is to provide an impartial, fair response, sticking to the law”.
“And we’ll deal with the events as we find them.
“The important thing is, whether one per cent or 99 per cent of the population support a cause, we will police it impartially.
“What we’ve seen in this case is that a relatively small group of people have caused serious disruption to London and as a result of that it’s absolutely our intention to make sure that they’re all brought to justice.”
This comes after the Met urged the public not to intervene with demonstrations, a plea which fell on deaf ears yesterday when a member of the public ended up covered in paint in a bid to end the incident.
Other protestors have climbed to the top of suspension bridges and glued themselves to roads.
22 people were involved in this morning’s action in Downing Street with a Met spokesperson saying “police are aware of protesters in Whitehall/Downing Street and are on the scene and dealing.” They posted a similar message about Trafalgar Square.
Another group sat down in the road with banners to block Whitehall, as some glued themselves to the tarmac.
With the Prime Minister set to attend COP27, the group said amid Rishi Sunak’s ‘u-turn’, “we demand that he also U-turn on new oil and gas. This genocidal policy will kill millions of people, while failing to address the worst cost of living crisis this country has ever seen.”
TfL confirmed it was granted an injunction against Just Stop Oil preventing the group from demonstrating in 17 locations across the capital.