Just Stop Oil and XR leaders at war over extreme tactics of eco mobs

Climate activists are at odds over what actions protesters should take to get the public’s attention with some leaders urging demonstrators to ‘upset people’ and others calling for a ‘moderate flank.’

Just Stop Oil mastermind Roger Hallam has called on his organisation to take extreme actions, arguing that ‘nothing happens’ unless you upset the public.

However, Rupert Read, former spokesman for Extinction Rebellion (XR), has urged the group to focus on attracting new members to its cause instead of flashy demonstrations.

The leaders’ remarks come as eco-zealots across Britain face criticism over outlandish protests that saw vandalism of a Van Gogh painting, luxury retailers in London and even the scaling of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.

Mr Read argues the ‘radical’ actions the groups have been taking pose ‘significant barriers’ when recruiting new activists to join the cause.

XR inspired the seemingly more radical groups, Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain. Both groups were founded and run by experienced members of XR. 

Mr Hallam, a co-founder member of XR, actually left the group to pursue a more radical extreme path. He now co-ordinates behind the scenes for Just Stop Oil.

‘If we’re going to win, we need a lot of people on board. I’m trying to create a moderate flank,’ Mr Read, a professor at the University of East Anglia, has argued, according to The Times.

‘What I want to see, and what I believe will occur, is a much larger mobilisation of people more moderate than Extinction Rebellion but more radical than any existing mainstream groups.’

Mr Read argued the climate change movement has to ‘be ready to grow exponentially’ which means activism groups must ‘lower barriers to entry.’

‘The reality is, a lot of people feel there are significant barriers of entry for them with radical and environmental activism,’ he argued.

‘I don’t think [the movement has] done such a good job to people with different political opinions and it’s not done a terribly good job of being inclusive to people of a different class background.’

The activist argued ‘most people need to engage in non-violent direct action’ and that having individuals take meaningful action on a smaller scale would ‘be a game changer.’

He said: ‘If we had a lot more people being determined that their employers or the institution where they spend most of their time should be serious about moving really fast, about reducing their climate and diversity impacts, that would be a game changer.’

However, Mr Hallam has taken a different approach to gather support, telling environmental enthusiasts: ‘If you don’t upset people enough, then nothing happens.’

‘If you upset people too much, like traditionally with violence, then you’re dead as well. But then there’s a sweet spot.’

He added: ‘No one knows where that sweet spot is, but as a general rule of thumb it’s a lot higher up than you think.’

Just Stop Oil is pushing activists to act boldly and encourages ‘high-level disruption and intense mobilisation.’

Tim Hewes, a retired church of England priest affiliated with the group, told members: ‘If you’re not already in custody or dead we need you.’

The group also stresses the benefits of its ‘support system’ which includes no-fee lawyers that can help anyone who gets arrested over demonstrative action.

Additionally, members have access to an emotional support hotline with ‘climate crisis-aware’ professionals and safe houses ‘where somebody will cook you dinner.’

Just last week, two Just Stop Oil protesters threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery in central London.

Anna Holland, 20, from Newcastle, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, from Lambeth, south-west London, threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the iconic £76 million painting before gluing themselves to a wall inside the Gallery. 

Both have since pleaded not guilty to criminal damage to the frame of Van Gogh’s painting in a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. 

Other rebellious eco-zealots from the campaign group launched a humiliating attack against the police that same day, spraying orange paint over the New Scotland Yard HQ’s sign in Westminster, London – prompting officers to make 24 arrests.

Lora Johnson, 38, from Southwold, Suffolk, was charged in the incident and pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal damage. 

Also last week, two Just Stop Oil protestors were arrested after they suspended themselves from the Dartford Bridge. 

Drivers were unable to use the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex, after it was blocked when the demonstrators mounted its cables with climbing equipment.

Protesters Morgan Trowland, 39, and Marcus Decker, 33, climbed so high up the bridge that police negotiators urging them to descend were unable to communicate with them. The pair are then were said to have unfurled a Just Stop Oil banner and remained there for almost 36 hours.

Trowland and Decker will face a jury trial after both indicated not guilty pleas at Southend Magistrates’ Court to committing public nuisance over the alleged stunt.

Although Just Stop Oil protests have dominated headlines in recent weeks, the organisation is not the only climate change group to make in extreme demonstrations. 

XR activists enraged commuters by scaling a Tube at Canning Town station at rush hour before being dragged off and roughed up by other travellers.

Mark Ovland, 38, and his fellow protester James Mee, 37, unfurled a banner saying ‘business as usual = death’ as angry passengers bombarded them with coins, coffee and sandwiches in east London on October 17, 2019, during a two-week protest. 

Mee was eventually pulled onto the platform at Canning Tube station and kicked by commuters during the morning rush-hour.

The pair were only on top of the train for 20 minutes but 48,000 people had their morning journeys affected, the prosecutor said during their tribunal earlier this year.

Ovland and Mee admitted ‘we got it wrong’ when they appeared in front of a judge in March, noting how they ‘had the best of intentions’ but poor execution.

Both men were given 12-month community orders but spared jail.

Judge Silas Reid, when issuing their sentence, told the pair: ‘Each of you was part of a team under the wider Extinction Rebellion umbrella. This was a protest about a hugely important area.

‘It is, though, irrelevant whether your argument is on the right side entirely or not. Of course, climate change is a vitally important matter for everyone to consider for the future. What you did though is you went too far.’

Similarly, Insulate Britain protesters blocked traffic on the M25, including an ambulance carrying an ‘urgent patient’, by sitting across Junction 3, a busy interchange on the motorway at Swanley, Kent, on September 29, 2021.

The group ran into the middle of the road and spread out across two areas of the junction, bringing traffic to a standstill.

Some demonstrators glued themselves to the tarmac, one stuck himself to a police car and another, Mary Adams, refused to move out of the way of an ambulance that was transporting a patient to hospital.

The cost to the economy caused by the disruption was about £4,603, with an estimated 18,000 vehicles affected across the wider area, according to evidence from National Highways. 

In total, nine of the activists admitted charges in relation to the protest either by post or in person at Crawley Magistrates’ Court earlier this year. 

Ian Bates, 63, and Karen Matthews, 60, as well as Mary Adams, 68, Margurite Doubleday, 67, Bethany Mogie, 39, Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer, 21, and Lucy Crawford, 52, each pleaded guilty to wilful obstruction of free passage of the highway.

Biff Whipster, 54, admitted criminal damage by leaving a ‘hard, crusty layer of glue’ on the window of a police vehicle during the demonstration.