‘I found it harder to look my students in the eye’: Just Stop Oil protesters block streets in waterloo

South London streets were blocked this morning by environmental protesters causing traffic chaos.

Since October 1, Just Stop Oil have demonstrated daily – including blocking traffic at key junctions across the capital.

This morning they blocked traffic at St George’s Circus in Waterloo.

A group of 26 protesters arrived at around 9am and sat down with banners at every entrance to the roundabout, with some glueing themselves to the ground.

Emotions ran high as motorists were prevented from moving, with some reacting aggressively.

Protester Sally Hayes, 66, a grandmother and shop owner from Yorkshire, said: “We have two to three years left to take action to prevent complete catastrophic climate breakdown. This Government is behaving with criminal irresponsibility in granting licenses for more fossil fuel extraction against all scientific advice.

“I can’t just stand by and watch the destruction of this wonderful world and all our children’s lives.    

“I can’t bear to think of the life my lovely little granddaughter has before her. We’ve had our lives, and bear collective responsibility for this catastrophe. How can we do this to our children?”

A Met spokesman said: “As of 10.40am, rapid intervention by officers resulted in the removal and arrest of all 20 Just Stop Oil protesters, including 10 who had glued themselves to the road.”

In the past 12 days, there have been 337 arrests of Just Stop Oil protesters, with Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley saying he was “frustrated” his officers can’t do more to stop roads being blocked.

Just Stop Oil warned they will protest in some form every day of October until the Government meets its demands to stop new oil and gas licences in the UK.

One protester, who was not at the disruption in Waterloo but has been at previous Just Stop Oil protests, said London would become prone to “wildfires” if it continued its use of fossil fuels.

Harley Brewer, 29, a tutor from Peckham, said he could not look his young students in the eye as they talked about their futures.

He said: “We have scientists from all kinds of agencies all saying the same thing, which is we can have no new oil and gas and maintain a livable climate.

“I was working as a tutor teaching teenage school kids who had dreams and ideas about what they wanted to do in the future and what I was learning about the climate was telling me those futures didn’t exist for my students and I found it harder and harder to look my students in the eye.

“What am I doing for my students if I’m not taking action to stop this from happening?

“Day to day [pollution] is killing people and giving kids asthma. Brixton is the worst in London. It’s poor areas in South London that have the highest levels of pollution and it’s estimated it kills 150,000 a year.

“But in the future there’ll be all kinds of things like wildfires in London. This summer with 40 degree heat was the busiest time for the London Fire Brigade since the Second World War.”

Mr Brewer said he understood the criticism directed at protesters blocking emergency service vehicles but claimed the responsibility lay with the Government to stop climate change.

“I’m not here to disrupt ambulances,” he said. “The reason I’m doing this is to protect lives. If the Government was taking action to stop climate change then we wouldn’t have to take this action, these are the kinds of action that drive change.”

According to the Environment Research Group at Imperial College London, an estimated 4,000 deaths are caused by air pollution each year in London. 

Pictured top: Just Stop Oil protesters arrested by Met police officers today in Waterloo (Picture: Just Stop Oil)