JUST Stop Oil vandals spray-painted one of the country’s best-known war memorials.
But the 10.15am attack on the Wellington Arch failed to stop the King’s Life Guard marching on horseback through the 200-year-old landmark.
Tom BowlesMindless Just Stop Oil vandals targeted the Wellington war memorial with spray paint[/caption]
Tom BowlesThe attack on the Wellington Arch failed to stop the King’s Life Guard marching on horseback[/caption]
Three protesters were arrested after setting off orange flares and using fire extinguishers to spray orange paint on the arch.
They also held up banners next to the Grade I-listed Arch near Buckingham Palace.
Just Stop Oil said on its Twitter/X account it was protesting against the awarding of fossil fuel licences.
The group wrote: “What use is art when droughts and wildfires ravage our green and pleasant land.”
Activist Joe Hogan, 40, from Hertfordshire, added: “Traditional, managed, sanitised forms of protest have done nothing; the only way forward is through sustained, disruptive civil resistance.”
A council worker was later seen removing the paint.
JSO has been bragging about plans for a “slow march in London on an unprecedented scale” for three weeks from this Sunday.
Its latest stunt comes despite several activists facing court this week.
On Tuesday, retired teacher Gaie Delap, 76, appeared in the High Court to face claims she climbed on to a motorway gantry last November.
The gran, from Bristol, is one of 12 JSO protesters accused of breaching a court injunction aimed at restricting protest on the M25 and causing disruption.
Several junctions across Surrey, London, Essex and Kent were affected.
Ms Delap told Mr Justice Soole that her “heart was breaking” for the future of her six grandchildren.
Lawyers for National Highways say the protesters caused considerable delays and were in contempt of court.
Ms Delap and other defendants said they were unaware an injunction was in place and apologised.
The hearing is expected to last until the end of this week.
Tom BowlesJust Stop Oil said on its Twitter/X account it was protesting against the awarding of fossil fuel licences[/caption]
Getty – ContributorArthur Wellesley, lst Duke of Wellington[/caption]
Also on Tuesday, three JSO supporters were avoided jail when sentenced to 12-month community orders with 60 hours’ unpaid work for invading the field during an Ashes Test at Lord’s cricket ground.
Judit Murray, 69, Daniel Knorr, 21, and Jacob Bourne, 27, were sentenced at Westminster magistrates’ court for stopping play during the game between England and Australia on June 28.
Last week, JSO blocked a bus transporting asylum seekers to the Bibby Stockholm Barge in Dorset.
The bus driver had to force his way through 23 protesters who walked up and down the road carrying a huge orange banner that read No Prison Ships.
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