Two Just Stop Oil supporters have painted the departure boards at Heathrow Airport. Just Stop Oil is working with groups internationally under the Oil Kills banner to demand governments establish a fossil fuel treaty, to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Just Stop Oil: redecorating Heathrow
At around 8:35am on Tuesday 30 July, Phoebe Plummer and Jane Touil from Just Stop Oil entered Heathrow and proceeded to paint the entrance hall to terminal five, as well as the departure boards in the departures lounge:
🚨 BREAKING: HEATHROW AIRPORT PAINTED ORANGE
🧯 Phoebe and Jane have covered the departure boards in terminal five in orange paint, as part of the international uprising with @_oilkills.
🛢️ Demand our government Just Stop Oil by 2030 — https://t.co/xAyrqHDJYe pic.twitter.com/cDOGC2og9B
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) July 30, 2024
Police and security arrived on scene within minutes and proceeded to cordon off the area:
🔥 WATCH: Jane and Phoebe speaking after spraying Heathrow Airport in orange paint.
🧡 21 groups across 12 countries have taken action at 18 airports so far during the @_oilkills international uprising.
🛢️ Demand our government Just Stop Oil by 2030 — https://t.co/xAyrqHDJYe pic.twitter.com/HBbQLUMxwV
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) July 30, 2024
Both supporters had been dragged to a police van by around 8:50 am.
Plummer said:
People around the world are rising up to demand an end to oil by 2030. This is an international problem, so ordinary people are doing what our politicians will not, working together globally to put a stop to the harm and suffering that fossil fuels cause.”
Repression and prison time will not stop people stepping up to defend our families and communities. We have to put a stop to oil and gas. We’ve had fires raging in Jasper. British farmers are in despair after the wettest 18 months on record destroying crops. Mortuaries are overflowing in India after a heatwave. If we want to protect life and what we love, we need a treaty to Just Stop Oil by 2030.
Touil said:
We are in the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced and governments are not doing what is needed to protect us. Ordinary people have to stand up and make their governments do the right thing, because without pressure from us, they won’t. I feel so angry and betrayed that politicians have let this happen when they’ve known about climate breakdown for over 50 years.”
Fossil fuel companies are maxing out profits, while hundreds of millions of people pay the price with their lives! Our government must commit to signing a legally binding fossil fuel treaty to end the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by 2030 – and it must support poorer countries to get off fossil fuels too.
Oil Kills at Heathrow – and everywhere
Today’s action comes after the wettest 18 months in the UK, farmers have been warning it is the worst growing season in 42 years, leading to waterlogged fields of rotting vegetables. British weather has always been changeable, but the recent extremes have been unprecedented.
June last year was the second warmest on record, with July the second wettest. September was then the warmest on record, followed by the wettest October and the fifth wettest December.
Research suggests that another implication of a warmer world will be an increasingly sluggish jet stream, resulting in ‘weather blocking’- longer periods of the same type of weather, leading to more droughts and floods.
The Oil Kills international uprising has been taking action at airports around the world. As the Canary has documented, 21 groups across 12 countries have taken action at 18 airports so far.
Just Stop Oil: we told you we wouldn’t stop…
Just Stop Oil said:
As long as political leaders fail to take swift and decisive action to protect our communities from the worst effects of climate breakdown, Just Stop Oil supporters, working with other groups internationally, will take the proportionate action necessary to generate much needed political pressure.
This summer, areas of key importance to the fossil fuel economy will be declared sites of civil resistance around the world. Are you in?
Featured image and additional images via Just Stop Oil