Just Stop Oil protesters target Ferrari and Bentley showrooms

The Metropolitan Police arrested two people on suspicion of criminal damage in relation to the protest in London’s Mayfair.

Just Stop Oil activists have sprayed paint on the facade of two luxury car showrooms in central London (PA)

Just Stop Oil activists have sprayed paint on the facade of two luxury car showrooms in central London.

Protesters began spraying paint from a fire extinguisher over the premises of high-end dealers Ferrari and Bentley on the corner of Berkeley Square and Bruton Street at 8.30am on Wednesday.

The Metropolitan Police arrested two people on suspicion of criminal damage in relation to the protest.

The force tweeted: “Protestors have sprayed paint at the Ferrari and Bentley garages in Berkley Square at 08:39hrs.

“Met officers were rapidly on scene and at 08:46hrs, arrested two people for criminal damage.

“They have been taken into custody to a central London police station.”

It came as the campaign group continues its month-long series of protests as it calls on the Government to halt all new fossil fuel licences.

The group says police have made 585 arrests since they began their action at the beginning of October.

Seven Just Stop Oil demonstrators were arrested on Tuesday after spraying paint on to the facade of 55 Tufton Street in Westminster as it targeted the headquarters of climate sceptic think tank Global Warming Police Foundation.

Protester Carmen Lean, 28, an architecture student from Glasgow, said: “New oil and gas is a death sentence for people all around the world.

“You can throw us in prison but it won’t stop our outrage at this Government throwing millions of people under the bus.

“This Government is using the crisis to push through more austerity on one hand and new oil licences on the other. Both are death sentences.”

Emma Brown, 31, also from Glasgow, said: “We have come down from Scotland to demand this toxic Government in Westminster do another U-turn, this time on our broken energy system.

“Get your hands off our North Sea oil and rapidly upscale the renewable energies that will prevent catastrophic climate breakdown and reduce our bills.

“This is the immediate action we need to help the cost of living and the climate crisis.”

It comes as two climate activists discussed the tactics Just Stop Oil use and whether they are effective on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

Indigo Rumbelow, a Just Stop Oil protester, told the programme on Wednesday that they use the tactics “to disturb everyday life” and ensure that everyone is aware of the “very very serious” threat of climate change.

On whether breaking the law is acceptable, Ms Rumbelow argued: “There’s many times when I’m sure you will agree that it’s correct that people break the law.

“If there is a burning house and I want to save a child I will break a window causing criminal damage.

“If there’s a government who’s persecuting a group of peoples, I will hide them in my house no matter what the risk to myself is.

“If there’s a government pursuing new oil and gas despite the warnings of the global scientific gas, then I will stop them.”

Rupert Read, a professor of philosophy at the University of East Anglia who helped found Extinction Rebellion, argued that a more moderate approach is now needed.

Mr Read said the first major wave of Extinction Rebellion protests in April 2019 “achieved something dramatic and extraordinary, a real increase in climate consciousness”.

But he added that now: “What we need is masses of people who are prepared to take action in their own lives, in their communities, where they work, to effect the changes that need to be made.

“What I’d say to people who don’t like Just Stop Oil’s tactic is: ‘Well fine, but don’t waste your energy cursing at them but instead do something that you actually judge to be better, to be more positive, to be more effective.'”