Just Stop Oil is a controversial group.
For weeks now, they have been tying themselves to the beams of football matches, locking themselves in pipes at oil terminals – sticking to tankers and roads and demanding titles.
We spent a day after them breaking through the roads and heading for oil terminals on the banks of the Thames in Essex.
For good reason, they are closely monitored by the police, so most communications include hotlines and encrypted messaging applications.
Image: The protesters stopped the movement as part of their interruption
It all starts at Purfleet, where we wait for activists to arrive at the agreed location – a busy gas station and a gas station popular with trucks.
Suddenly about 15 of them appear through the front yard of the garage. They walk in a row on road A, which passes by the service station and sit quietly.
Some are starting to stick their hands on the asphalt. Others lie.
The chaos ensues almost as soon as the furious truck drivers stop screaming and cursing, and a small group of protesters rush to them to try to get on top of their tanks.
The next few minutes are very hairy – two drivers screaming through their windows walk away to escape the trap while protesters back off the road.
But one driver slowed down to speak, and while a polite but determined protester spoke to him, two others got into the side of his car. He is stuck.
“I’m sorry you’re involved,” the protester said, “when the police come here, you’ll be free in about two hours.”
“Two hours!” the driver explodes, rolls up his window and calls his boss.
Image: One protester, who declined to give his name, said Just Stop Oil had only one request to the government
Read more: Climate change activists enter tunnels as they block access to Essex oil terminals
The protester, who declined to give his name, told Sky News that Just Stop Oil has only one request – the UK government to agree to immediately suspend all future licenses and consents for exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in United Kingdom.
“We have tried marches, we have tried petitions, they have not listened to us.
“This must be the next step, and we must seize the opportunity from the very small window we have.”
He agrees that the public is unlikely to support Just Stop Oil’s efforts, but hopes that “they will eventually understand”.
Police arrived about 100 meters away. They arrest and remove roadblocks that are not glued.
Others work with a solvent solution and wooden spatulas, carefully peeling the skin off the road.
Drivers of the roundabout signal, swear and protest. A protester who would only name herself Becky answered my questions about the impact of her group’s actions on ordinary people trying to live their lives.
She acknowledged that she would have preferred not to cause so much disruption, but was so disappointed with the UK government’s continued commitment to oil and gas in the coming decades that she did not feel she had a choice.
Image: Becky says she is “disappointed” by the UK government’s continued commitment to oil and gas in the coming decades
“If I was in my car stuck in traffic for that, I would be angry too. But I have five children and I need to know that there is a future for them.
“I listened to the report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), I know we have a good eight years of oil that we can use as we move (to clean energy).
“I know that if we leave it more, if we go above 2 ° C, there will be no harvest, there will be no food.
“I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to do this. What choice do I have? Without doing this, I have no hope, just despair.”
Truck drivers nearby are not impressed.
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1:11 Protests at an oil terminal
HGV driver Danny Nash said: “I know we’re going to switch to electricity and all that, but that’s not the way to do it.
“Because you stay and create more problems, more pollution, more traffic, more everything. I think it’s crazy, absolutely insane. “
Derek Ratford went further: “It’s a pity what they’re doing.
“If it was me, I would just drive an M25 with them. They are mental, they hold the country for ransom. Get them out and put them in jail.”
An hour later, we are on the banks of the Thames, following 25 young activists on a bumpy road – they are heading to an oil terminal and want to invade and stop operations, as they did elsewhere.
Image: Activists called “selfish, fanatical and downright dangerous” by Interior Minister Priti Patel
Xante is 17 years old. She is here with the support of her mother and father, she says, and is ready to be arrested, regardless of the consequences.
She says: “(The government) can start this now – they had a massive emergency response during the coronavirus pandemic and I think they know how to react in emergencies.
“A recent IPCC report says that solar and wind energy are the cheapest and most efficient, so I think they just need to stop investing in oil, especially oil and fossil fuels.
After a 30-minute walk, the group approaches the perimeter fence of the terminal.
They are spotted by a security guard and rush together, holding ladders and mats to overcome the sharp spikes at the top.
Two are overcome – right in the arms of some very annoyed guards and a barking guard dog. Another group broke away and found a way, quickly dispersing the arriving security teams and police.
Those left outside are looking for another way inside, but the police are pushing them into the space from a bridge.
Several were arrested, but not before two were able to cling to the wall. Confused and annoyed terminal staff watch, the police look and sound annoyed.
Image: Student Dylan said “this is the only way the government can listen”
Dylan, 20, a student, listens to me as I ask him about the danger he has exposed himself to and the police resources he occupies.
He said: “Unfortunately, this is the only way the government can listen, the interference it causes. This is the only way the government can hear that we are all terrified.”
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Interior Minister Priti Patel called the activists selfish, fanatical and downright dangerous, while the Labor Party said there should be an immediate national ban on their protests.
But I felt that this was a very focused, very determined and quite well-organized group of people with a very clearly defined goal and increasingly clear goals.
They will also not get what they want from the British government, and so the stage is prepared for a long and protracted battle that will test the patience of many.
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