Just Stop Oil leaders hold secret training sessions for would-be eco zealots as they prepare them for abuse from members of the public in plot to bring London to a standstill
- The eco-activist group held the training meetings in Dalston, North London
- Read more here: Suella Braverman hits back at eco zealots with fresh laws
Eco-zealots from the controversial climate activist group Just Stop Oil have been holding secret training sessions in a plot to bring London to a standstill in a single day of mass action.
Leaders of the eco-fanatic group ran mindfulness training sessions for rookie activists to help them cope with being yelled at by furious members of the public, as they plan a summer of mayhem.
The group also told budding protestors to take inspiration from the suffragette movement in the early 20th century – calling on its members to throw rocks, break windows as well as ‘using fire and arson and so on’.
It comes just days after the group were seen staging slow marches across the capital and amid fears that the demonstrators will target the King’s coronation that takes place a week today.
The group has been meeting in an unassuming office block in Dalston, North London, which has also become a hub for other activist groups, such as Animal Rising, Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Insulate Britain.
Eco-zealots from Just Stop Oil have been holding training sessions with new recruits in a bid to bring London to a standstill in a day of mass action. Pictured: Just Stop Oil protestors in Westminster earlier this week
An unassuming office block in Dalston, North London, has become the training centre for Just Stop Oil and is believed to also have links with Animal Rising, Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion
Just Stop Oil has been causing mass disruption for the past two years, staging sit-ins on motorways, throwing paint over precious works of art and gluing themselves to buildings. Pictured: Protestors staging a sit-in protest in October 2022
Just Stop Oil has been causing mass disruption for the past two years, staging sit-ins on motorways, throwing paint over precious works of art and gluing themselves to buildings.
Their protests have infuriated members of the public and even held up blue-light ambulances and fire engines.
When signing up to the most-recent roll of training sessions, individuals were asked to watch a series of videos by 65-year-old Rowan Tilly, who is a veteran of the group XR.
An investigation by The Sun on Sunday revealed the eco-zealot, who was let off by a district judge in 2021 after obstructing a highway, showing a drawing of a woman throwing a missile in front of a police officer.
She said: ‘You’ve got suffragettes throwing rocks, breaking windows, using fire and arson and so on. The suffragettes won their cause. Let yourself be seduced.’
According to the newspaper, a number of the 20-odd trainees had decided to sign up to training after the group caused chaos at the world snooker championship in Sheffield where activists Edred Whittingham covered himself in orange paint.
During the training a leader of Just Stop Oil, going by the name Lance, spoke of the importance of slow marches and road-sit downs.
Just Stop Oil protesters take part in a slow march in central London on Thursday
During the session, 83-year-old campaigner Judy Bruce (pictured being confronted outside the Home Office in September 2021) demonstrated how to ‘go floppy’ to make it difficult for police officers and members of the public to pull protestors off the road
The leader spoke of the group’s aims to bring the capital to a halt as well as creating a summer of chaos.
He told trainees: ‘Disruption is really, really important. We need a mass element of that.
‘When we get to the point that we have 1,000 marching every day — that’s what we should aim for. One thousand every day. Fifty marches every day. So we can shut London down on one day. That is the level of disruption we’re aiming for.
‘At the moment we have 100 marching every day. We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got time to build it up.’
He went on to add that 95 per cent of the group’s time should be spent prepping for protests, with only five per cent being spent on action.
The recruits were told police officers could be lying to individuals about an emergency vehicle coming through and were urged to not use the word ‘leader’ to avoid being arrested for a conspiracy charge.
The XR offshoot Just Stop Oil also used role play where trainees are shouted at with abuse as if it were someone from a vehicle they were blocking.
During the session, 83-year-old campaigner Judy Bruce, demonstrated how to ‘go floppy’ to make it difficult for police officers and members of the public to pull protestors off the road.
The training sessions come amid fears that the group will disrupt the King’s Coronation taking place on May 6
The group caused chaos at the world snooker championship in Sheffield where activists Edred Whittingham (pictured) covered himself in orange paint
The elderly eco-zealot said she believed the marches would continue to 12 weeks, according to The Mirror who also attended the session.
She also spoke on the group’s relationship with police.
‘Police do facilitate us on these marches, which is really nice,’ she said.
‘If one person looks like they’re being arrested, it’s important to stay close with them and shadow them and be involved.
‘They need one police officer per protester and when we’re in big numbers that makes it very difficult for them.’
When the group were asked if they planned to disrupt the King’s coronation they responded ‘ooo, who knows?’
Just Stop Oils protests have come at a huge financial cost to the Met police, as well as putting a strain on resources.
In November the Met chief said that 12,000 work shifts had been used to clear roads and patrol motorways, with the Met spending £7.5 million in just nine weeks last autumn.
Earlier this week, police officers came under fire for their soft touch approach when 60 eco-activists from the group held ‘slow-marching action’, holding up traffic in the streets.
One angry passer-by tore up the Just Stop Oil banner leading him to be confronted by police officers. A stark difference to how the officers politely asked the campaigners to move onto the pavement.
Announcing the new measures on Wednesday Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured) said: ‘Selfish, disruptive protesters are wreaking havoc in people’s everyday lives across the country and this must be brought to a stop’
The video shared by the group showed the man telling the demonstrators to ‘f*** off, every single one of you’ and ‘move out of the way’. When he rips the banners from the hands of protesters and pushes them to the side of the road, police nearby go to stop him.
One of the uniformed officers then tells the man ‘if you push them, that’s assault – if you do that, that is a crime’, while the commuter can be heard complaining ‘people have got to go to work’.
The group was also accused of holding up an ambulance on Oxford Street on Thursday morning before reaching the long queue of traffic stuck behind the Just Stop Oil activists.
But it became stuck due to a number of lorries and vans blocking the one-way road ahead.
The ambulance did not appear to have its sirens activated, but video shows the protesters continuing their march despite the vehicle being just a couple of cars behind them.
Just Stop Oil said its activists moved out of the way as soon as they realised the ambulance was behind them.
Drivers across the capital are becoming increasingly infuriated by the action, leading to the Home Secretary Suella Braverman unveiling plans to tackle the disruptive ‘slow marching’ tactics.
The cabinet member said the new laws, which are expected to be enforced within weeks, would allow police officers to drag away protestors from the road.
The measure had been dropped from the Public Order Bill this week after being blocked by opposition peers.
The Home Secretary is now looking to introduce the legal changes by an alternative route known as a statutory instrument, which can be implemented more quickly.
Announcing the new measure on Wednesday she said: ‘Selfish, disruptive protesters are wreaking havoc in people’s everyday lives across the country and this must be brought to a stop.
‘This is why we are bringing forward this new law to clearly define serious disruption as requested by police chiefs.
‘Not only will the Public Order Bill introduce new criminal offences for causing serious disruption, but this new legislation also permits the police to clear the roads of slow marching protesters who are hell-bent on causing chaos across the UK.’
Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said they are ‘committed to responding quickly and effectively to activists who deliberately disrupt people’s lives’.
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