Insulate Britain target Baftas: Eco-zealots chant at celebrities

Insulate Britain target the Baftas: Eco-zealots link hands at movie awards red carpet to chant ‘Just Stop Oil’ at celebrities

  • A group called Just Stop Oil managed to get onto the red carpet at Baftas tonight
  • The group were filmed banging a drum and chanting Just Stop Oil at celebrities
  • They said it was not a protest against Bafta or the industry but is a cry for help

Eco-zealots have targeted the Bafta film awards and launched a protest on the red carpet where they were pictured chanting Just Stop Oil at celebrities as they arrived. 

Protesters outside the Royal Albert Hall in London could be heard chanting ‘just stop oil’ and banging drums while surrounded by a barrier of police.

A statement from the organisation said 30 young supporters of the campaign disrupted the event to ‘demand an end to new fossil fuel projects in the UK’.

They denied the protest was a publicity stunt, instead branding it ‘a cry for help from a generation who has the most to lose’ and said it was not targeted at Bafta or the film industry. 

A video shared online showed a security guard addressing colleagues in an earpiece and asking them to ‘get everyone off the red carpet’ as soon as they can. 

Faith Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, added: ‘If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year.’

The group, who say they are all under the age of 30, disrupted the red carpet event at London’s Royal Albert Hall. In a reference to the recent film they wore T-shirts reading ‘Just look up’ and ‘Just Stop Oil’.

In statements shared on the Just Stop Oil website, Claudia, 23, said: ‘I am here supporting Just Stop Oil because I am absolutely terrified about our future.

‘Last year the UK government’s former chief scientific advisor warned us that what we do within the next 3-4 years will determine the future of humanity.

‘Yet our government, knowing this, knowing that continuing to support the oil industry is a death sentence for us all, remains determined to drag us down this path of suffering and destruction. And the mainstream media doesn’t care.

‘So we are asking those with power and influence to use it, to do what is necessary, and use their platform to demand the government just stop oil. We have to act like our lives depend on it, because they do.’

Dillon Parsons, 20, an aspiring filmmaker at the University for the Creative Arts, said: ‘I don’t want to disrupt the BAFTAS but feel I have no choice because of the danger we are all in.

‘This is not a protest against the BAFTAs or the film industry, nor is it a publicity stunt. We couldn’t care less who wins what award. This is a cry for help from a generation who has the most to lose.’

The group say actions will continue to escalate until the government makes a meaningful commitment to stop new fossil fuel. 

Last month Just Stop Oil supporters delivered a letter to Downing Street asking the Prime Minister to bring an end to investment in new fossil fuel supply projects and warning that the group will take direct action if its demands are not met.

Just Stop Oil said that a reply received by the group from BEIS indicates that the government has no intention of ending new fossil fuel supply, contrary to the expert advice from the International Energy Agency that such investment is inconsistent with maintaining a safe climate.

Hollywood actress Rebel Wilson is hosting the film awards at the Royal Albert Hall, alongside stars Daniel Kaluuya, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Tom Hiddleston who will be presenting at the ceremony.

The evening will also feature entertainment by Dame Shirley Bassey, performing a rendition of a Bond theme song to celebrate 60 years of the spy film franchise, and a video message from the Duke of Cambridge, who is the president of Bafta.

The EE British Academy Film Awards will air on BBC One at 7pm.

The Met Police and Bafta have been contacted for comment. 

This is a breaking news story. We will bring you more information as soon as it becomes available. 

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