Furious scaffolders take on Just Stop Oil activists as protestor pushed off road and slammed onto van bonnet

8 June 2023, 11:05 | Updated: 8 June 2023, 11:17

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

A furious group of scaffolders have taken on Just Stop Oil protestors slow-marching through central London, with one activist slammed onto the bonnet of a van stuck in traffic.

JSO activists have taken to roads in Hammersmith, Chelsea and Westminster, using their new 'slow-march' tactic, which involves protestors walking slowly through the road in an attempt to disrupt traffic.

Activists were holding up signs that said 'we won't die quietly' and 'new oil equals murder' as they continue to call for the government to stop all new oil and gas contracts.

Frustrated Londoners told cops in west London to arrest the protestors, with one telling a Metropolitan Police officer: "You should be stopping then, it's against the law."

Meanwhile, a woman who said she was on the way to hospital pleaded with the protestors to allow her to move through the march.

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In a separate JSO protest on the Pall Mall, central London, a group of angry scaffolders tackled the activists head-on, pushing them out of the road in order to allow a lorry driver to pass.

One commuter grabbed two protestors by their jackets, pushed them off the road and slammed them against the wall.

A lone protestor left in the road is then pushed onto the bonnet of a van by another scaffolder before being slammed into the same wall.

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A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said: "Peaceful protesters assaulted while demanding the UK Government stop licensing new fossil fuels.

"No one likes being disrupted, but also no one likes their government actively planning genocide. New oil and gas will kill millions of people. What will you do?"

Just Stop Oil donor Dale Vince speaks to Nick Ferrari

It comes after new figures from the Met Police showed that JSO protests have cost the taxpayer £3.5million in four weeks.

The environmental activist group began three months of planned protest activity on April 24, predominantly using a new 'slow marching' tactic.

Policing the protests took officers away from the equivalent of 11,000 shifts during the four-week period.

Read More: Just Stop Oil delay England's return to Test cricket action - by blocking team vehicles on way to Ireland match

Today is not the first time frustrated commuters have taken on activists directly.

Last month, during protests on Blackfriars Bridge, one frustrated builder got out of his car and pushed one to the ground.

Two police officers quickly step in to stop the commuter in his tracks and handcuff him as the protestors remain on the road.

Labour MP: Halting new oil and gas will lead to 'difficult choices' but is 'right thing to do'

It comes after Dale Vince, who funds both Just Stop Oil and the Labour Party, told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that a Sir Keir Starmer victory would be the best thing for the environment.

After Just Stop Oil's highly criticised demonstrations, Nick asked: "You support their goals, do you support their tactics?"

"Maybe not everything they do but it doesn't matter to me. It's the same with the Labour Party," Mr Vince began,

"I support the Labour Party I want them to win the next election very much, I think it's the most important thing for our country."

The eco-activist, who has been "concerned" about the climate since the nineties, said: "This is the most important election in my lifetime. But I don't have to agree with every Labour policy to feel that way."

The Labour Party has committed to blocking new North Sea oil and gas developments as Starmer vows to make UK 'clean energy superpower'.