Eco mob Just Stop Oil plots summer holiday chaos as group targets airports - labelling private jet stunt a 'prelude'
21 June 2024, 10:50 | Updated: 21 June 2024, 11:30
Just Stop Oil is planning a "sustained period of action" in a bid to disrupt summer holidays, with the group's latest private jet stunt just the tip of the iceberg according to the activist group.
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The group is preparing to turn its attention to airports as part of a major wave of travel disruption affecting family holidays, labelling Thursday's stunt a mere "prelude".
The activist's most recent stunt saw two protestors douse private jets at Stansted Airport with orange paint on Thursday.
It's the same location where Taylor Swift's private jet is being held during the UK leg of her Eras World Tour.
It comes as LBC analysis uncovered that only four Just Stop Oil protesters have served prison time after being sentenced for blocking roads and defacing national monuments.
Just Stop Oil break into Stansted Airport and spray orange paint on planes
Members of the climate action group have been arrested a total of 3,122 times since it was founded in February 2022, according to data obtained by LBC.
But just 0.1% have served time behind bars after being sentenced for their crimes, leading to calls for the next government to further clamp down on the activists.
It comes as a source told The Times: “This is just another way of us taking action in the theatres of life we exist in because we’re not politicians.
“Private jets are obviously mental for emissions and most people would agree they need to stop.
"It’s a wake-up call for government that we need big radical changes. If this incoming government doesn’t get us on war footing then we’re not going to have anywhere to fly to,” they added.
Following the action, Naturalist Chris Packham has urged Taylor Swift to think of the "future of all of her young fans" as he called on her to stop travelling by private jet.
The pop superstar, who will take to the stage at Wembley Stadium on Friday as she brings her Eras Tour to London, has been travelling by private plane to all the stops on her world tour.
The group hit headlines again on Wednesday after two activists were arrested, and then later bailed, after spraying orange powder paint over Stonehenge using fire extinguishers.
It comes after Just Stop Oil sparked nationwide anger by spraying Stonehenge with orange powder on Wednesday, before targeting private jets at Stansted Airport the following day.
Caller Andy rebukes Just Stop Oil's protests
Just Stop Oil spokesperson Bing Jones told LBC the group are "peaceful, all our actions result in people going to court, many of them are going to prison, we are serious people who take into account each action that we've done".
He also claimed the Stonehenge stunt did "exactly what's needed", saying "we got front page coverage in three national newspapers, lots of talk, we put the climate on the front page.
"We are failing on the climate radically - starch washes off but the climate breakdown is forever. We're in the middle of the election, we're not even beginning to deal with the most urgent issue of our time."
