Just Stop Oil activists stage ‘go slow’ march in Lancaster

The group is demanding that the government stops all new UK oil and gas projects.

Around 25 Just Stop Oil supporters marched at noon on Saturday.

Police liasion officers from Blackpool were drafted in to oversee the demonstration.

Caroline Cattermole, 70, a retired counsellor from Lancaster, said: “We are facing catastrophic climate breakdown and we need to stop taking fossil fuels out of the ground now.

"If the Government will not listen we have no choice but to act. I have a responsibility to act to protect future generations and those across the world who are dying now because of the climate crisis. We will destroy ourselves if we continue on this path of extracting fossil fuels.”

Margaret Reid, 52, a former museum professional from Kendal, said: “the catastrophic consequences of climate breakdown will get worse within our lifetimes, within the next year, within the next few months.

"This is not a distant concern - it is an existential threat that we are facing right now. I am horrified, heartbroken and terrified by the knowledge that there will be billions of deaths from extreme heat, food shortages and war during my lifetime.

"Why is our government doing nothing to stop this? Why is it still issuing licences for the new oil and gas that will kill us. That's genocide."

Another Just Stop Oil supporter at the march said: “The world’s climate scientists couldn’t be clearer – new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with continued life on earth.

"The world is on the brink of multiple disastrous climate tipping points which, if crossed, will spell the beginning of the end of human civilisation as we know it.

"By continuing on this deadly path our government is condemning millions across the global south to a life of famine, war and destitution, and it won’t be long before we’re facing the same here in the UK.”

The Lancaster action follows a campaign of disruptive action by Just Stop Oil at the end of 2022, with daily road blocks in London in October, the repeated closure of the M25 in November, and a series of slow marches in the capital in December.