Just Stop Oil is negotiating with the Met over the group’s refusal to stop protesting

Representatives of Just Stop Oil met with the Met Police on Monday 8 January to discuss relations going forward, after the police requested the group meet with them late last year. Its supporters caused significant disruption in the capital last year, demanding that the UK government immediately halts all new licences and consents for fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

Just Stop Oil: meeting with the Met

At 1pm representatives of Just Stop Oil – Sarah Lunnon, Indigo Rumbelow and Eben Lazarus – met with officers Karen Findlay, Simon Hearn, and Sian Thomas at the Met’s office at 109 Lambeth Road:

🚨 JUST STOP OIL MEET WITH METROPOLITAN POLICE

🚔 Today, 3 Just Stop Oil representatives met with Public Order Commander Karen Findlay, presenting evidence that the activities of the British Government are an act of genocide by oblique intent.

🔥 Karen Findlay said she will… pic.twitter.com/PTwCRLIXen

— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) January 8, 2024

The meeting comes after a request from Commander Kyle Gordon that the group:

come forward and speak with us, so we can actually work with them.

As the Canary previously reported, Just Stop Oil responded with a letter on 8 December 2023 proposing a meeting with Rowley.

Who are the real criminals?

The group’s co-founder Lunnon said:

We met with Metropolitan Police to present evidence that by developing new oil and gas projects, the activities of the British Government constitute an act of ‘genocide by oblique intent’, as defined under Article 30 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Public Order Commander Karen Findlay requested a copy of our evidence and told us she will be taking this information to the Commissioner and Specialist Operations – which covers genocide crimes. We have offered a pause on disruptive Just Stop Oil actions if this investigation is to go ahead. Negotiations are ongoing.

Just Stop Oil is calling on the police to investigate and charge the real criminals who are responsible for this unfolding genocide – they can start with PM Rishi Sunak, Shell CEO Wael Sawan, Lloyd’s London CEO John Neal, Barclay’s Chair Nigel Higgens, and Telegraph owner Fred Barclay.

Article 30 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court states that a person shall be criminally responsible and liable for punishment for a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court if the perpetrator clearly has an understanding that significant loss of human life will occur ‘in the ordinary course of events’ after undertaking a course of action.

Lazarus remarked:

Last year the Dutch Police Federation, ANPV, Equipe and ACP [police unions] wrote an open letter to the Dutch Government demanding that the government listen to the public as they cried out for a safe and sustainable future. NPCC lead for Protest Policing Chief Constable Chris Noble has said ‘we’re not going to arrest our way out of environmental protest’.

The Met have told us that their primary concern at this moment is policing ‘environmental protests’. We wasted no time informing them that if new oil and gas licences are granted, then not only protest but disruption and violence should be expected when the public are in danger of flood, fire, and famine. How will they uphold public order when there’s no food on the shelves?

The potential for a violent response

The Met has recently released its Force Management Statement 2023. It drew a link between potential terrorism and:

environmentalism, given the ever-increasing sentiment within this lobby and a sense of not being listened to by the Government.

Just Stop Oil responded by affirming its nonviolent ethos, but noting that without immediate political action on the climate crisis then:

the Police are right, there is the potential for a violent response. The route to avoiding this is to end new oil and gas and mobilise the country to deal with climate breakdown.

Featured image via Stephen Gingell/Just Stop Oil