Just Stop Oil block traffic in Victoria and spray soup at BEIS building
Environmental protesters from Just Stop Oil have stopped traffic in Victoria Street in Westminster and sprayed soup over the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) building.
The move comes after two weeks of daily protesting incidents which saw protesters from the group throw soup on a Van Gogh painting at the National Gallery on Friday.
The group is demanding that the Government halts its reliance on oil and gas.
At around 11.30am, about 12 Just Stop Oil supporters walked into Victoria Road outside of BEIS, the Government department responsible for allowing new fossil fuel extraction, and sat down in the road with banners.
Some of them glued themselves to the road, while others locked themselves together.
Shortly afterwards, a number of supporters covered the glass-fronted building in soup, which the group said is a reference to the fact that countless families in this country cannot afford a tin of soup, and famine is rife across sub-Saharan Africa.
The group asked Home Secretary Suella Braverman to join them for talks.
A spokesman for Just Stop Oil said: “Just Stop Oil invites the Home Secretary Suella Braverman to come and meet us, and we will stop throwing soup.
“Join us on Thursday, October 20 at 11am, in London, in public, to hear what is driving students, builders, engineers, care workers, vicars to throw soup at iconic paintings, to scale bridges, and to repeatedly, relentlessly block roads in the capital.
“We are ordinary people in non-violent civil resistance in order to protect our rights, freedoms and our heritage. We seek to protect the lives and livelihoods of all humanity.”
A statement from the Metropolitan Police on Twitter said: “Police are on scene after a number of protesters have blocked Victoria Street.
“They have glued themselves on to the road, as well as a nearby building. Specially-trained officers will be working to unglue people from the road. One person has been arrested for criminal damage.”
Pictured top: Just Stop Oil protesters spray soup at BEIS building (Picture: Just Stop Oil)
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