Who are these people who stopped an oil tanker at rush hour?
I'm the Guardian's environment correspondent
and I first got a call from them back in February
and then they invited me to the football.
They were calling themselves 'Just Stop Oil'.
Disruptive environmental activists, just like Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain,
but they aim to take their protest a step further.
We're asking for something really simple,
we're asking for the UK in 2022 to just stop oil.
No new oil licences without our consent.
And after a few false starts in their campaign,
they had promised us something bigger over the coming weeks.
So we followed them as they stormed oil terminals.
The cops are chasing them,
they've got their sprint on.
Deflated the tires of oil tankers.
This is the difference between me getting home to see my kids this weekend
or me being stuck in a fucking lay-by.
And tried to bring the country's oil distribution network to a standstill.
Just stop oil.
Oh, here we go.
Hello.
Hi.
So we're on our way to the McDonald's now.
So we'll see you in a few minutes I guess, yeah?
Okay, so it's 3:55am and we're just waiting around in McDonald's near Tamworth.
Must be about, I don't know, two, three dozen activists here.
Apparently they've got the police lurking,
so they're not making any moves just yet.
Taking advantage of getting some breakfast.
This was the first action they'd invited us out on,
when Just Stop Oil planned to launch their campaign with coordinated blockades
of 10 oil terminals.
But straight away it was clear that things weren't going to plan with these activists.
It looks like we're all going somewhere, they said we were going to walk to the site,
but everyone seems to be gathering over there, in the car park next to a van.
I think if we get in this van though and start driving around places
then the police they're going to stop them and arrest everybody.
You alright?
Morning.
Police just showed up started asking everyone what they were doing,
we just walked away and just walked straight past them
and apparently it's about a 45-minute walk.
OK, Sir the reason I'm stopping you under the section one of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act,
reason to believe the items on you that potentially could be used to commit criminal damage,
before that, I am going to search you Sir.
OK.
Group of people want to go up that way, that leads directly to Trinity Road,
where the tankers are, going up and down.
As the group got closer to the terminal
they were intercepted by the police,
forcing them to start their protest there and then.
Just stop oil!
This isn't exactly where we wanted to be, we wanted to be right at the gates
and we wanted to be disrupting the oil directly, unfortunately they've pushed us out into the road.
I've got lots of layers down there officer because it's it's so cold.
It is cold, you're right.
Got three layers in my trousers.
Is this action about raising awareness of climate change
or is it about stopping the distribution of fossil fuels.
Both.
Both are hand in hand,
like you can't do one without the other.
People ask why don't you write petitions, why don't you go outside parliament?
We did.
The thing is you didn't hear about it,
because the media doesn't cover it, so this is what we have to do
to get to talk to you guys, to get the message out there,
to get people to care.
Give me your bag.
Do not do that.
I do not want to arrest you, please don't, OK.
So we've got activists now letting the air out of the tires of this oil tanker and the driver's vexed.
This is the difference between me getting home to see my kids this weekend
or me being stuck in a fucking lay-by.
The reason we're doing it
is for the children, for the children.
It's not for the children.
For the children, I'm supposed to be taking my boy out tomorrow.
We've got two to three years,
we've got a tiny, tiny window to do something.
This is civil resistance we're not gonna stop, this is an ongoing process of attrition.
There's nothing that they can do to stop us and we're going to grow
and we're going to stop these destructive industries
and we're going to fight for a future.
Just Stop Oil say they've been inspired by the fuel protests of 2000.
When petrol pumps ran dry as farmers and HGV drivers blockaded oil refineries.
But back then there was a difference,
they were complaining fuel was too expensive,
not that we shouldn't be using it at all.
And they had the public on side.
Something Just Stop Oil
and other environmental groups before them, have struggled with
Excuse me,
Is this the Castle Community Centre?
I think so, yeah, yeah.
I think it's this place.
I thought it was those toilets for ages but...
You come for the Just Stop Oil talk?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Hello, how you doing?
Good yeah, how are you?
Yeah, good thank you.
Larch Maxey,
is one of the group's key organisers.
I first met him covering Extinction Rebellion in 2019.
He invited me to sit in on a recruitment session he was running to get more people involved
in the Just Stop Oil campaign.
So, I'm hoping what we're here to do tonight is to talk about the truth,
the truth of the climate emergency, the science of climate change,
we have to move rapidly.
What we do, I believe, in the next three to four years will determine
the future of humanity.
Right.
So what we're going to do now is get into three groups,
so one group over here...
This session was aimed at getting the general public on board
and possibly for them to volunteer as activists.
I left the meeting feeling things where not quite as advertised.
I did write some notes.
Just Stop Oil, I was told, was a youth-led campaign
and a number of key questions
about the group remained unanswered.
Tonight once again, I found myself as at least the second youngest in the room
with Bruno, over here, probably being the youngest.
There are people in every decade,
but I think from 25 to 35 is the least represented
and I think that part of your life cycle
most people there settling down with jobs and kids and that
and they've got less space
to kind of look up,
read a leaflet and come to a talk.
I went with two young people, Kai and Maddy to Emirates Stadium,
where they went to go and disrupt the Arsenal vs Liverpool match
and I could see how afraid they were simply to be taking the action.
So do you think there are ethical considerations behind mobilising young people in this way?
I think the biggest ethical consideration is not allowing people to live to be my age,
it's like how dare we live with such luxury inconvenience
that we steal their lives.
That action was proposed by them,
they didn't, no one was exploiting them to do that action,
they are telling the truth about how fucked we are
and they're trying to do something about it.
I know that you and all the activists
you work with are committed to non-violent campaigning,
but do you think that at some point
some activists are going to cross that boundary
into more, yeah, more kinetic forms of campaigning?
It's one of, yeah, so the the fear of,
or the potential for violent action
to stop societal collapse grows greater every day.
It's one of the motivators for me
to pour everything I can into non-violent campaigning.
So, yeah absolutely, that threat is very real.
And you said in the talk that it cost a £1,000 to finance a Just Stop Oil election team for a week.
Where is this money coming from?
People, all are volunteering their time, their money, you know,
so we've got crowdfunder,
so, you know, the money comes from, yeah, like telling people the truth
and then saying OK given that how serious and urgent this is,
what are you willing to do?
So yeah, people, people are chipping in.
So it's all kind of grassroots funding from lots of different donors
or are there are there big philanthropic donations rolling in as well?
So we've had some promises of stuff
from in that, but you know, I guess was that maybe they'll see the impacts
and then decide that, yeah OK,
that's something they might invest in.
I later found out that they had received
hundreds of thousands of dollars from philanthropists in the United States.
Time is 11:48pm.
We're looking for some activists who stay in here,
because tomorrow morning they're going to go and trespass on an oil terminal.
So, how you doing?
Oh man, I'm sure.
We're going to go on a little dawn walk along the coastline.
Yeah like dawn, so yeah,
it'd be like probably a half two-ish we'll be walking alongside, it's gonna be dark,
but yeah it's gonna be interesting.
So yeah, we just had, we're just waiting for the others to come back
so they were just doing another recce to see
if we can like prise open a fence,
but it seems like we can't,
so it seems like we're gonna have to use ladders and just throw people over.
Oh, right.
Watch out!
The activists are now climbing up
these ladders they got
and they're jumping over and they're gonna go and try and disrupt the loading bay.
You're fucking awesome.
Let's go.
Look there's an alarm going off now, so it must have been detected somewhere.
There's still some people crossing over the gate over there.
The cops are chasing them.
They've got their sprint on.
It looks like their reconnaissance was right.
I remember them saying on the way in they were looking for the spot with no cameras.
We weren't able to follow them into the terminal they were risking imprisonment
and a heavy fine for this action,
but once inside they quickly started uploading footage
to their social media channels.
The government could end this right now
and just issues the statement that there will be no new
fossil fuel projects or consents.
The ball is in their court.
The activists were having an impact.
In the first weeks of the campaign there were dozens of reports of petrol shortages
and hundreds were arrested.
The Labour party called for them to be banned from oil terminals around the country
and Downing Street said it would not tolerate the group's guerrilla tactics.
But the campaign was struggling to gain media coverage.
Were they cutting through with the public?
I've been called out here by activists from Just Stop Oil,
who said they were going to do an action
and they're going to be waiting for an oil tanker to come along,
which they're gonna climb on board
in an effort to show the public what it is that they're protesting about.
Yeah, so it looks like they spotted an oil tanker.
There are eight different teams around London right now.
Some of our teams won't encounter a tanker,
that's the nature of it, but it's really hard when it falls on a few people, it is.
I don't think that's our fault,
I don't think that's because we're not bringing the public on board.
It asks a lot, like I'm super sleep deprived, I've been in and out of cells, it's not fun.
It does ask a tremendous amount of people.
Just as we were chatting, the activists spotted a tanker driving in their direction.
This truck, this oil tanker's just come along
and they've run over, held their banner out and now they're climbing on board
to keep it stationary.
But they're also letting the other traffic go past.
Obviously they're trying to show that their protest is targeted specifically
at what it is that they're trying to stop.
Still pissing off a lot of people though.
Well these time wasters,
they're idiots, what we're 2022,
what we're gonna get around with horses and bikes?
We're not all fit.
So you reckon, the cause is completely, doesn't make sense?
Complete rubbish!
It's a climate change campaign.
Okay.
And so they're calling on the government
to stop all new fossil fuel projects.
OK that's crazy.
Well, if it's for climate change then it's fine.
I'm for it.
Would you ever join a protest like this?
For safety reasons I wouldn't, because I know how the people that protest can be treated,
but I would join it online, I'd say, on social media.
Yeah, you can support their protests?
Yeah, because anyone who doesn't support the protest means you don't care about the planet
and you really don't care about dying.
So, if you really don't care about today, you mean you're gonna be putting
your children in danger.
So if you don't care about right now, tomorrow's not promised.
The campaign continues as authorities
start prosecutions and local councils and the companies affected take out injunctions
banning protests at oil distribution sites.
But Just Stop Oil claims to be attracting more activists
and with hundreds of thousands in the bank
they are well resourced to continue.
Meanwhile the UK government has announced a new round
of licensing for oil projects in the North Sea.