Just Stop Oil spray paint on government building in Westminster

The group targeted the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

The organisation says it targeted the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero after it issued more than 1-hundred new oil and gas licences.
Author: Aileen O'SullivanPublished 19th Jul 2023

Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps has accused Just Stop Oil protesters of "illegal criminal damage" after two activists filmed themselves spraying his department's building with orange paint.

A 24 and 25 year old woman and man took responsibility for the direct action on the property in Victoria Street in Westminster.

The organisation said it spattered the department with paint after it issued more than 100 new oil and gas licences in the UK.

The targeting of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was one of a number of protests carried out by Just Stop Oil in London on Wednesday.

According to the Metropolitan Police, slow-marching demonstrators were cleared by officers from Westminster Bridge, Victoria Street and Vauxhall Bridge Road, as well as from roads in Marylebone and Kensington.

Mr Shapps, responding to questions about the paint protest on LBC during a round of broadcast interviews, said: "It is illegal criminal damage and I will leave that to the authorities."

Protesters also took to the roads around Parliament Square on Wednesday morning.

A video posted on Twitter by JSO appeared to show two protesters using a spray canister to spread orange paint over glass panels covering Mr Shapps' Whitehall department.

The organisation says it targeted the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero after it issued more than 1-hundred new oil and gas licences.

Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands, posting a picture on social media of Westminster Bridge being blocked by JSO supporters, called the demonstration "unacceptable".

Members have also been marching in roads around Parliament square.

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