Local climate activists marching in Norwich, demanding end to new oil and gas project

Norfolk members of the 'Just Stop Oil' group are doing a 'go slow' march, this morning

Author: Tom ClabonPublished 18th Feb 2023

Local climate activists are taking to the streets late this morning, demanding the government stops all new oil and gas projects.

Norfolk members of the 'Just Stop Oil' group are doing a 'go slow' march in Norwich from 11:30am- which aims to reduce traffic to a crawling pace.

"I have lost faith in all other methods of protest"

Frances Davies, a 20 year old cafe worker from Norwich going on the march:

“I’m taking action because I want to be able to go outside in the summer, I want to have a life, a career, and I want to grow old.

"All of that is at stake because our government chooses profit over life. I have lost faith in all other methods of protest, I’ve tried everything else, signing petitions, going on marches, going on strike, and the head of the United Nations António Guterres said at COP 27 that we are ‘on the highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator’.

"What else can I do? I’ve been backed into a corner by the government. I can sit by and watch everything we’ve built fall apart, or I can resist.”

"There will obviously be some delays to traffic"

James Harvey, 47 also taking part:

"The Fossil Fuel companies are really profiteering from this climate crisis. They are burning fossil fuels and charging the general public massive amounts of money.

"We are not talking about stopping the use of oil and gas now. We have got eight years of reserves that we can use while we transition to renewable energy.

"But there is a lot of support out there, people really want to see change out there because we need it. We are reaching the end of the road in terms of what is acceptable for future living.

"There will obviously be some delays to traffic, that's inevitable with any protest. While nobody wants that, once the government makes a meaningful statement on oil and gas we will get off the road- it's as simple as that."

What has the Government said to all of this?

The government say they're committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

While action like this will only cause needless disruption to local people.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.