After throwing soup at Van Gogh and painting Stonehenge, agents of chaos say they’re done

London: The militant climate activist group Just Stop Oil has announced it will end its high-profile campaigns of disruptive protests, including road blockades and attacks on cultural landmarks, as it shifts its approach to tackle climate change.

In a statement, the group revealed it would “hang up the high-vis vests” after one final demonstration in London at the end of April.

Just Stop Oil supporters are arrested after they blocked a road in London as part of a series of guerilla protests in 2022.Credit: Getty Images

Formed in 2022, Just Stop Oil rose to prominence with attention-grabbing stunts targeting iconic artworks such as Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, sites such as Stonehenge, and high-profile events such as snooker matches and a West End performance of The Tempest.

Two members of the group – aged in their 80s – also damaged the case around the Magna Carta, at the British Library.

The group’s demand for the UK government to end new oil and gas exploration was eventually aligned with Labour’s policies, following the party’s victory in last year’s election. Just Stop Oil hailed this as a success, calling it “one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history”.

The campaign said it had made fossil-fuel licensing front page news and kept “over 4.4bn barrels of oil in the ground”, while courts had ruled new oil and gas unlawful.

During its three-year history, the organisation said its supporters were arrested 3300 times and imprisoned 180 times. About 20 of its members are serving prison sentences at present.

The group’s tactics sparked widespread controversy in Britain. While some applauded its efforts to highlight the urgency of climate change, many saw its actions as disruptive, with critics across the political spectrum labelling the group as zealots.

Climate activists in Britain are now much more likely to receive jail terms compared with when the group was founded, after the previous Conservative government introduced new rules cracking down on protest.

Right-wing media in particular became vocal in its opposition, and members faced harsh legal consequences, including lengthy prison sentences for key activists such as Roger Hallam.

The group’s activists wear head cages during a protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London in January.Credit: Getty Images

Hallam was jailed in July over a plot to disrupt M25 traffic that involved 45 people climbing onto gantries over the motorway.

Research from Bristol University academics recently revealed that at the outset of the group’s protest campaign, the media was more likely to include lengthy quotes from members outlining their demands. However, within a year, media coverage began to shift, with increasing emphasis placed on the disruption caused and the shock value of the group’s actions.

Last week, nine Just Stop Oil protesters were convicted after police intervened to prevent them from gluing themselves to the runways at Heathrow Airport.

Seven of the demonstrators, aged between 26 and 61, were arrested after they were found with glue and angle grinders close to the perimeter fence of the airport in July 2024.

Just Stop Oil protesters threw tinned soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s famous 1888 work Sunflowers, then glued themselves to the wall at the National Gallery in London in 2022.Credit: AP

According to its website, most of the group’s money came from the Climate Emergency Fund – a US network that has supported climate activism since 2019. It is part-funded by US philanthropist Aileen Getty, a granddaughter of petrol tycoon J. Paul Getty.

“Just Stop Oil was intended to be a campaign to prove the effectiveness of disruptive tactics in bringing about necessary change, and we have been incredibly successful in that aim, but it’s now time to change,” the statement said.

Despite stepping back from its disruptive protests, the group remained defiant, and many of its supporters already “take action with other groups”.

In a warning that global warming is likely to exceed 2 degrees by the 2030s, the group said: “This is not the end of civil resistance. Governments everywhere are retreating from necessary action to protect us from the consequences of unchecked fossil fuel consumption. We are preparing a new strategy to confront this reality – nothing short of a revolution will protect us from the storms ahead.”

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