Just Stop Oil hit back at claims they targeted Cenotaph after blocking Whitehall

Simply Cease Oil protesters have descended on Whitehall and had been seen obstructing site visitors close to Downing Avenue and across the Cenotaph.

The group has since hit out at “lies” that they focused the struggle memorial, after a variety of politicians condemned their actions.

A mother-of-one mendacity cuffed on the bottom of the struggle memorial stated: “They arrested us within the street and we had been dragged to the pavement after which again over right here.”

One officer stated the protesters had been moved to the location “to get them off the street”, including: “It was for their very own security, clearly it’s fairly a busy street.”

A spokesman for Simply Cease Oil stated: “Now we have not focused the Cenotaph. The police moved folks there after they had been being arrested.”

The Met stated they arrested a minimum of 40 activists who had been slow-marching in Whitehall below Part 7 of the Public Order Act.

The marketing campaign group stated in a social media put up that 100 activists had taken to the road in central London to protest towards oil and fuel offers.

In a press release on the group’s web site, it stated: “At 11.33am this morning, 130 Simply Cease Oil supporters from the North and South West of England started marching down Whitehall from Trafalgar Sq..

“A small variety of Metropolitan Police arrived at 11.37am. At 11:52 am they started arresting Simply Cease Oil supporters for allegedly breaching Part 7 of the Public Order Act 2023, however they had been unable to deliver the march to a halt at this stage, and the supporters made their method to parliament.”

The group claimed that by 12.13pm “all Simply Cease Oil supporters had been arrested, with most peacefully refusing to adjust to the police”.

This comes shortly after two activists had been arrested on Monday morning for smashing the glass defending a portray on the Nationwide Gallery.

The Met Police confirmed that two folks had been arrested on suspicion of inflicting legal injury after the glass across the Rokeby Venus, painted by Diego Velazquez, was smashed with security hammers.

Simply Cease Oil not too long ago launched a three-week marketing campaign of protests demanding the federal government halt new oil, fuel and coal initiatives, promising to trigger disruption on an “unprecedented scale”.

It comes as Rishi Sunak stated the Met Police have the federal government’s “absolute and whole backing” to deal with criminality forward of a deliberate pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day.

The demonstration is because of happen on Saturday, with Suella Braverman as a consequence of maintain a gathering on Monday to debate the difficulty.

The Palestine Solidarity Marketing campaign, organisers of the deliberate demonstration, has pledged to keep away from the Whitehall space the place the Cenotaph is situated.

The deliberate route will take them from Hyde Park – a couple of mile from the Cenotaph – to the US embassy in Vauxhall, south of the Thames.

The Pageant of Remembrance, which is often attended by members of the Royal Household, is because of happen on Saturday on the Royal Albert Corridor with a two-minute silence noticed at 11am. The Remembrance Sunday occasions happen on the Cenotaph, with royals, senior politicians and veterans in attendance.

In a put up on social media platform X, Mr Sunak stated Saturday’s deliberate protest was “provocative and disrespectful” and there was a “clear and current threat that the Cenotaph and different struggle memorials might be desecrated”.

In a press release, the protest organisers stated: “Now we have made clear that we’ve got no intention of marching on or close to Whitehall, so as to not disrupt occasions on the Cenotaph.”

They added that “we’re alarmed by members of the Authorities, together with the Prime Minster, issuing statements suggesting that the march is a direct menace to the Cenotaph and designed to disrupt the Remembrance Day commemorations”.