The most controversial Just Stop Oil actions as climate group ceases protests
The group is know for tactics such as targeting major infrastructure, sporting events, West End productions and heritage sites.
Just Stop Oil (JSO) has announced it is ceasing direct action, with a final protest in Parliament Square on April 26.
The environmental campaign group, which has been linked to others including Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, is known for its controversial tactics.
JSO came to prominence in 2022 when activists blocked major roads such as the M25 and Dartford crossing.
It has also targeted major sporting events, West End performances, art galleries and heritage sites.
Many JSO activists have been arrested, convicted and even jailed for offences such as criminal damage, conspiring to disrupt traffic and conspiring to cause a public nuisance.
Here, we take a look at some of the most noteworthy JSO actions after the group announced it was “hanging up the hi-vis”.
– M25 and other traffic disruptions
Just Stop Oil gained notoriety by staging actions that blocked major roads across the country in 2022.
The most prominent of these protests took place over four days in November when activists climbed gantries above the M25 forcing it to close in several places, causing chaos for motorists.
Several supporters of the action were sentenced to lengthy jail terms, some of which were reduced by a judge earlier this month after an appeal.
JSO activists staged a similar protest in October 2023 by climbing the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge which links Kent and Essex, causing the closure of the Dartford Crossing for two days.
– Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
One stunt from the group was also in October 2022 when two protesters threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery in London, then glued themselves to the wall.
The painting, estimated to be worth more than £74 million was protected by glass but protests Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were jailed for criminal damage to the gold-coloured frame.
Activists splashed soup on two versions of Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh in September 2024 just hours after a judge sentenced Ms Plummer and Anna Holland over the original action.
Elsewhere, two Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested after they targeted Diego Velazquez’s Rokeby Venus at the National Gallery in London – a painting which was slashed by suffragette Mary Richardson in 1914.
