Eco activists target ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ masterpiece at Dutch museum 

Eco activists have targeted the world famous Girl with a Pearl Earring painting in the Netherlands in the latest brazen gallery attack.

Three Just Stop Oil vandals were arrested at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, and the Johannes Vermeer artwork is said to be undamaged after the protest which sparked groans and heckles from the unimpressed onlookers.

Gallery visitors tried to drown out the ‘stupid’ demonstrators, telling them to ‘shut up’ during a speech about protecting the environment. 

Footage circulating online shows how one protester appeared to glue his bald head to the glass covering the painting. His accomplice then poured a tin of chopped tomatoes over his head and they removed their jackets to reveal their Just Stop Oil t-shirts.

He said: ‘How do you feel? How do you feel when you see something beautiful and priceless being apparently destroyed before your eyes?

Eco activists have targeted the world famous Girl with a Pearl Earring painting by Johannes Vermeer in the Netherlands in the latest brazen gallery attack

Footage circulating online shows how one protester appeared to glue his bald head to the glass covering the painting

The Hague police said on Twitter that they had arrested three people in a museum for ‘public violence against goods’

A video posted on Twitter showed one man pouring a can of red substance over another protester who appeared to attempt to glue his head to the glass-protected painting

‘Do you feel outraged? Good. Where is that feeling when you see the planet being destroyed before our very eyes.

‘This painting is protected by glass, it’s just fine.

‘Vulnerable people in the Global South, they are not protected, the future of our children is not protected. 

‘People in fuel poverty who need to choose between heating or eating are not protected.’ 

The pair were then seen being escorted away in handcuffs by police, along with a third member of the group. 

‘Around 2 pm (1200 GMT) two people glued themselves to the Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer,’ the Mauritshuis said in a statement to AFP.

‘One person glued his head to the painting, which was behind glass, and the other person glued his hand to the green wall next to the painting. A third person threw an unknown substance at the painting.’

The museum added: ‘We have immediately inspected the painting, which was done by our restorers. Fortunately the painting… was not damaged.’

The painting would return on display ‘as soon as possible’.

Gallery visitors tried to drown out the ‘stupid’ demonstrators, telling them to ‘shut up’ during a speech about protecting the environment

The pair were then seen being escorted away in handcuffs by police, along with a third member of the group

The two men in the video were seen being escorted away by police in more footage

A police van is seen parked outside the Mauritshuis museum today as three were arrested for the stunt

Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted in around 1665, is one of the most famous paintings in the world

‘Art is defenceless and to try and damage it for whichever cause, we strongly condemn it,’ the Mauritshuis added.

Dutch police said in a statement they had arrested three Belgian men in their 40s for damage to public property and were conducting a forensic investigation. They were being questioned. 

A statement from Just Stop Oil said its activists were responsible and had thrown soup.

‘The message is clear: if humanity does not immediately stop using fossil fuels, it will become extinct,’ it said. ‘They would never defile a work of art not covered with protective glass.’ 

Dozens of people were gathered inside the museum waiting for news, while security guards told them not to get too close to the other paintings, an AFP reporter said.

The entrance to the room where the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ normally hangs was blocked off by a large reproduction oil painting and a guard said it would likely be closed for the rest of the day.

Two police vans were parked outside the museum while investigations continued.

‘The condition of the painting has been investigated by our conservators. Fortunately, the glazed masterpiece was not damaged,’ the museum said. 

Dozens of people were gathered inside the Mauritshuis waiting for news after Thursday’s incident, while security guards told them not to get too close to the other paintings, an AFP reporter said.

The entrance to the room where the Girl with a Pearl Earring normally hangs was blocked off by a large reproduction oil painting and a guard said it would likely be closed for the rest of the day.

Art lovers have long been fascinated by Dutch master Vermeer’s painting of the young woman with an enigmatic look, wearing a blue and yellow turban, a heavy pearl hanging from her ear.

It has provided further inspiration notably for Tracy Chevalier’s 1999 novel ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ which gave rise to an Oscar-nominated film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth.

It comes after a string of similar attacks in galleries across the world, with British protesters throwing a tin of soup over Van Gogh’s iconic Sunflowers earlier this month. 

British protesters threw a tin of soup over Van Gogh’s iconic Sunflowers earlier this month 

The pair were arrested for criminal damage and aggravated trespass, the Metropolitan Police said. 

Anna Holland, 20, from Newcastle, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, from Lambeth, south-west, both pleaded not guilty to criminal damage to the frame of Van Gogh’s painting in a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in mid October.

Their set their trial for December 13 at City of London Magistrates’ Court.

Other protesters have followed suit in Europe this month.

Two activists in Germany’s Potsdam’s Barberini museum covered Claude Monet’s Les Meules painting in mashed potatoes before gluing themselves to the floor.

Two activists in Germany threw mash potatoes over Claude Monet’s ‘Les Meules’ painting in Potsdam’s Barberini museum

The activists glued themselves to the floor of the museum in protest

Activists from the ‘Letzte Generation’ (Last Generation) climate activist group entered the museum in high vis jackets before approaching the painting, which sold at auction for $110million in 2019.

Earlier this summer, activists in Germany were arrested after gluing their hands to a Raphael masterpiece.

Jakob Beyer, 28, and Maike Grunst, 21, stuck their hands to the golden frame of Renaissance icon Raphael’s painting The Sistine Madonna in Dresden.

The activists, who belong to the ‘Letzte Generation’ (Last Generation) movement, entered the Old Masters Picture Gallery, stepped over a barrier in front of the painting and clasped on to the frame before unfurling a banner.

Jakob Beyer, 28, and Maike Grunst, 21, stuck their hands to the golden frame of Renaissance master Raphael’s painting The Sistine Madonna

Other gallery guests had to be kicked out while security surrounded the pair and police were called who eventually removed their hands and took them into custody, according to Bild. 

Just Stop Oil vandals also carried out a protest at the National Gallery by covering John Constable’s The Hay Wain with their own version featuring double yellow lines, pollution and a washing machine.

Two students covered the world-famous painting in London with a mock ‘undated’ version including aircraft, before gluing their hands to the frame in a protest against UK oil and gas projects on July 4.

It took more than an hour for the pair to be arrested. 

The group said their reimagined version of the 1821 priceless work, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour in Suffolk, shows a ‘nightmare scene that demonstrates how oil will destroy our countryside’.

Protesters from Just Stop Oil cover John Constable’s The Hay Wain at the National Gallery in London

One hero gallery worker even silenced a pair of ranting eco-zealots as she warned them to ‘get off our paintings and get out’ at Manchester Art Gallery.

Two men from the campaign group Just Stop Oil wearing orange t-shirts with the words ‘Just Stop Oil’ written in black on their fronts both placed a hand on either side of the frame surrounding Thomson’s Aeolian Harp, a piece from 1809 by the English Romantic painter JMW Turner.

Spray painted on the floor underneath the JMW Turner painting in Manchester today read the words, ‘no new oil’.

In a video recording of the protest uploaded to Twitter, a female member of staff can be heard instructing colleagues over a walkie-talkie to call 999. 

A female member of staff at Manchester Art Gallery cuts the protester short, however, saying: ‘I’m not interested. No.  No. No. You’ve defaced our property…I don’t want to hear a word of what you’ve got to say.

‘So please, give us some respect by just keeping quiet…Let this be a silent protest.’

A hero gallery worker silenced ranting eco-zealots after they glued themselves to a painting hung in Manchester Art Gallery

A day later, activists from Just Stop Oil glued themselves to the frame of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. 

Extinction Rebellion co-founder Simon Bramwell was among those involved, along with fellow XR activist Caspar Hughes. 

Just Stop Oil also named three of the protesters as Jessica Agar, 21, an art student from Hereford; Tristan Strange, 40, a community organiser from Swindon; and Lucy Porter, 47, a former teacher from Leeds. 

Security quickly responded and cleared visitors away before trying to prise the activists off the artwork. Police arrived nearly an hour later and arrested them on suspicion of criminal damage.

Enough is enough: the security guard first pulled the man’s hand off the painting (left), before proceeding to remove the young woman from the priceless Renaissance artwork (right). Police then detained the protesters, who had tickets

Protesters from Just Stop Oil glue their hands to the frame of a copy of The Last Supper at the Royal Academy in London today

Just Stop Oil activists then carried out similar protests at galleries in Glasgow, Manchester and London.

The same month, three environmental activists attached themselves to the glass cover of Botticelli’s iconic Primavera painting in the Gallery in Florence.

But the Italian security were praised for ripping the protesters’ hands from the priceless painting.

Just Stop Oil’s Calendar of CHAOS: From throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers to scaling the QE2 Bridge… eco-mob reach day 27 in their month of mayhem in the UK 

October 1 – Four bridges gridlocked

Members of the group occupied four bridges in the capital, causing gridlock on busy roads, before converging on Parliament.

Just Stop Oil boasted it had ‘brought central London to a standstill’ by blocking four key bridges to Westminster – Waterloo, Westminster, Lambeth and Vauxhall. 

‘This is not a one day event. This is not a symbolic day out, this is an act of resistance against this genocidal government’, it said in a statement.

The mob who blocked bridges were eventually moved on by police. 

At King’s Cross, former Labour leader Mr Corbyn addressed activists who then set fire to fake energy bills in metal bins in protest at rising gas and electricity prices.

Protesters sit down on Waterloo Bridge, blocking the bridge during a protest in London on October 1

October 2 – Waterloo Bridge blockade

Protesters, including pensioners, again occupied London bridges and lied down in the middle of the road as they brought the capital to a standstill for a second day.

The Met arrested 31 protesters after they paralysed the City on the second day of the planned month-long campaign of mayhem.

Around 250 people took  part in three separate marches departed from Euston, Paddington and Waterloo at around midday.

Oxford Street, Ludgate Hill and Southampton Row were ‘disrupted’, before the groups met at Covent Garden and went on to ‘block’ Waterloo Bridge by sitting in the road.

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters occupying Waterloo Bridge in London on October 2

October 3 – Rallying cry

Following a weekend in which thousands took to the capital, the following Monday saw a much quieter day with no major demonstrations.

Just Stop Oil did, though, release a statement in which it declared Westminster ‘a site of nonviolent civil resistance until the government commits to end new oil and gas’. 

A statement added: ‘Our supporters will be returning – today – tomorrow- and the next day – and the next day after that – and every day until our demand is met – no new oil and gas in the UK.

‘We will not stand by while everything we know and love is wilfully destroyed. We do this because it is the right thing to do and so we have a duty, a responsibility to continue.’

Supporters of Just Stop Oil (JSO) disrupt traffic as they march along Whitehall on October 3

October 4  – Parliament Square blockade

Disruption returned on the Tuesday as protesters blocked roads into central London’s Parliament Square.

Some 54 eco-activists were arrested, including many who had ‘glued themselves to the ground’ during the demonstration. 

The group had earlier chanted ‘no new oil’ outside Downing Street before marching in the road and blocking all all access to the busy Westminster hub.

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters occupying roads around Westminster in central London

October 5 – Lambeth Bridge shut off

The following day, a further 28 protesters were arrested when they blocked and glued themselves to more roads in Westminster before being hauled away by officers.

The activists blocked the road to Lambeth Bridge and another close to Parliament during the demonstration, which resulted in arrests for the willful obstruction of the highway during the protest, the Metropolitan Police said.

Minutes before the protest took place, then-Prime Minister Liz Truss’ speech was interrupted by Greenpeace activists at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, calling out her support for fracking.

Activists march through central London as Just Stop Oil continue their ‘Occupation of Westminster’ protest

October 6 – Trafalgar Square chaos

On day six of the campaign, the protesters blocked roads in Trafalgar Square, causing yet more mayhem in the heart of the capital.

Some 32 demonstrators sat down with banners and glued themselves to the Tarmac, before they were all removed and arrested on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.

Just Stop Oil also said: ‘A group of seven queer people have formed one of the roadblocks. They are dressed in drag to demonstrate their unapologetic queerness.’

Police officers remove an activist during a ‘Just Stop Oil’ protest blocking roads around Trafalgar Square in London

October 7 – Vauxhall Bridge disruption

Just Stop Oil’s first week of consecutive action came to a close by blocking off roads leading to Vauxhall Bridge.

Some 25 demonstrators in several groups blocked routes to the north and south of the bridge, sitting down with banners and glueing themselves to the roads.

The group confirmed the action ‘brings to an end the first week of continuous disruption’ – but warned that ‘coming weeks will see the disruption in the capital increase’.

Scotland Yard confirmed that 23 people were arrested on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway and the road was opened ‘after a short while’.

Met Police officers carry away a ‘Just Stop Oil’ activist during their road-block protest in London on October 7

October 8 – A501 blockade

Three more major roads in central London were blocked at the start of Just Stop Oil’s second week of continuous action.

Around 40 supporters established roadblocks on three roads adjacent to the A501, resulting in severe disruption on Marylebone Road and shutting off the Edgware Road, Gloucester Place and Station Approach.

An angry motorist ripped banners from the hands of activists and told them to ‘leave the road’, earning him a round of applause form a passer-by.

The eco-zealots, wearing luminous vests, sat across Marylebone Road, while long queues of cars, buses and taxis angrily beeped their horns.

Meanwhile, some members joined fellow environmental protest group Animal Rebellion in pouring milk on Regent Street and St James’s Street as part of a separate demonstration.

Just Stop Oil activists try to hold a banner in front of the traffic in Westminster, central London on October 8

October 9 – Piccadilly Circus madness

Furious were again pictured dragging members from the roads as the activists stopped traffic again on their ninth consecutive day of action, which ultimately resulted in 45 arrests at Piccadilly Circus.

One was filmed clambering on top of a police van which had arrived to deal with the protesters and gluing himself down to it by the hand.

But motorists out and about were frustrated by the protests and took matters into their own hands – attempting to forcibly remove the protesters from the roads themselves.

There was also footage online of a white van driving towards the protesters at speed, before slamming the brakes on and stopping just a couple of centimetres in front of them.

This driver and others were shown violently pushing and shoving protesters, as well as dragging them towards the pavement. In one online video a driver could be heard saying: ‘I have to go to hospital… stop interfering with us!’

The Met Police then took aim at the group, who they say had caused ‘unreasonable disruption’ to people’s lives with their actions.

Protesters, some with their necks padlocked together, block the road as they take part in a demonstration by Just Stop Oil climate activists at Piccadilly Circus

October 10 – Sit-down at Buckingham Palace

On the tenth day of action, police arrested 25 eco-zealots who glued themselves to each other and roads close to Buckingham Palace, sparking anger from motorists who told the activists to ‘get a job’.

Officers first attended at around 8.45am and the final activists were only taken away in police vans by lunchtime. 

A Just Stop Oil activist at the scene who did not block the road said to the final protesters as they were lifted into the vans: ‘You’ve done really well. Solidarity.’

It came as footage from the protest emerged showing one liaison officer telling the group, ‘let me know if I can do anything for you’ as the mob staged the sit-down protest.

However, one van driver blasted his horn and shouted ‘get a job’, while a taxi driver shouted at them: ‘F****** load of w******. Go and get a real f****** job.’

Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London

October 11 – Knightsbridge roadblock

The eleventh consecutive day of protest saw an irate van driver force his vehicle through a wall of protesters as fed-up motorists ripped banners and dragged activists off the road by hand in extraordinary scenes.

Amid the chaos, a fire engine on an emergency call struggled to get through the demonstrations, while an ambulance had to reverse and find another route as the group Just Stop Oil descended on exclusive Knightsbridge.

The angry van driver was filmed slowly driving into the activists to make it through, forcing them to move away from his vehicle.

Other motorists blared their horns and motorcyclists tried to weave past the protesters at the junction of Knightsbridge and Brompton Road, while one driver claimed they were stopping a baby from getting to hospital.

Meanwhile, a stuck Westminster City Council binman shouted: ‘You’ve got nothing better to do, get a job, you mugs, come on it’s enough, we’re just the f***ing workers, you clowns, f***ing idiots, you just sit there like a bunch of lemons.’ 

Responding to the demonstration, which saw 27 people arrested, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘These sorts of protests which disrupt people’s daily lives or indeed can stop our emergency services from potentially saving lives are unacceptable.

‘That’s why we’ve already toughened powers for the police, we’ve given them new powers to act and we are also taking further powers through the House at the moment to ensure they can go even further in preventing these individuals from disrupting people’s lives.’

Climate campaigners from ‘Just Stop Oil’ attempt to block roads near Harrods in Knightsbridge

October 12 – Parliament Square blockade

Another 27 people were arrested on the Wednesday after the eco-warriors blocked the roads around Parliament Square.

The Met said they were all arrested for public order offences – including one who had to be carried down on a stretcher after he climbed on top of a police van.

It came as commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee that officers have to wait until protests are deemed to meet a legal threshold of causing major disruption before they can be shut down.

His officers are in touch with Transport for London, local councils and the emergency services several times per day to check the level of disruption caused.

Susan Hall, the Conservative chairwoman of the committee, also claimed that police officers were allegedly handing cups of tea to protesters, The Times reported.

Sir Mark said he was not aware of that and added: ‘I hope we’re not doing that, I agree with you it’s not our responsibility.’

Just Stop Oil protestors block the road bear the rear exit of Downing street at Horseguards Avenue

October 13 – Roundabout roadblock

Frustrations boiled over again the following day as the activists caused a furious bust-up between drivers after blocking a key roundabout in south London.

One man pushed a protester, before a second witness shouted: ‘Don’t touch him, oi, leave him alone. What do you think you’re f***ing doing? Let the police deal with it.’ The man replied: ‘Where’s the f***ing police then?’

But the other man said: You can’t f***ing attack them like that, you can’t touch them, you can’t f***ing physically attack them. Stupid c***.’ Passers-by also ripped banners from the group, before further people gave them back.

The demonstrators established a series of roadblocks from 9am on routes around St George’s Circus in Southwark, which is located between Lambeth North and Elephant and Castle Underground stations.

An ambulance on an emergency call also appeared to be blocked by the protest today, with a video showing it sitting stationary with its flashing blue lights on. The junction is about 1,000 yards from St Thomas’ Hospital.

One frustrated woman was heard asking the group: ‘I have a disabled child who needs to go to school, why are you doing this to people?’ 

They then carried out a second protest by sitting outside Downing Street – with police liaison officers seen speaking to the group who were again holding banners and signs.

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters occupying roads around Southwark in London

October 14 – Van Gogh soup attack

The group then stepped up their efforts at the end of the second week of action, as two activists were arrested for throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery.

The duo – named by the pressure group as Anna Holland, 20, and 21-year-old Phoebe Plummer – threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the iconic £76 million painting before gluing themselves to a wall inside the Gallery.

Police say the work of art was ‘unharmed’ but some minor damage was caused to the frame. The National Gallery added in the evening that Sunflowers was back on display and undamaged. 

Hours later, other rebellious eco-zealots from the campaign group launched a humiliating attack against the police, spraying orange paint over the New Scotland Yard HQ’s sign in Westminster, London – prompting officers to make 24 arrests.

During the same protest, an angry motorist threw a can of coke at the activists as they blockaded the road.

Activists of ‘Just Stop Oil’ glue their hands to the wall after throwing soup at Van Gogh’s painting ‘Sunflowers’ at the National Gallery in London

October 15 – Shoreditch sit-down

At the start of the third week of action, furious road users resorted to dragging the protesters out of the road and begged them to move as they blocked busy Shoreditch High Street in East London – stopping a fire truck from getting through.

At least 26 people were arrested at the junction after Met Police arrived to unglue and remove the dozens of protestors blocking up the streets on the 15th consecutive day of disruption by the eco-zealots.

In one clip of the disruption, caused by 29 protesters who glued themselves to the road just after 12pm, a van driver claims he desperately needs to get his sick wife to hospital.

Tensions between the driver and activists reached boiling point when he drove towards members of the group sitting in the middle of the road.

Several protesters jump up as the van approaches while a woman is heard screaming ‘No! Don’t do it!’

Meanwhile another drivers was seen snatching a banner off the protesters before yelling: ‘You all use fuel in some way or another… this is ridiculous get out the way!’

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters blocking Shoreditch High Street in London

October 16 – Park Lane paint stunt

Just Stop Oil’s next stunt saw them spraying paint over an Aston Martin showroom as they blocked off London’s affluent Park Lane.

But a furious cab driver hauled the protesters out the way as a fellow motorist bellowed at them: ‘People have got f****** work to go to’ while another added ‘people are trying to go to hospital’.

The protesters descended on the famous London highway just after 11am with 14 of them blocking it with barriers after gluing themselves to the tarmac.

Moments later a supporter sprayed orange paint over the Aston Martin car showroom in an apparent spontaneous act of vandalism.

Among them were a pregnant mother and a musician who all vowed to continue with their deeply divisive campaign.

It came just hours after Home Secretary Suella Braverman slammed the activists as ‘thugs’ and told the Metropolitan Police and told them to ‘do a better job’.

Police with Just Stop Oil protesters who have blocked Park Lane in central London and sprayed paint over a Aston Martin car showroom

October 17 – QE2 Bridge scaled

In perhaps their most disruptive protest yet, Just Stop Oil was responsible for the QE2 Bridge at Dartford on the M25 being closed all day from 5am after two activists ascended 275ft masts and dangled over the structure.

Morgan Trowland, 39, and Marcus Carambola, 33, scaled the bridge linking Essex to Kent in the early hours, forcing the police to stop traffic from entering the bridge and causing huge delays for more than 17 hours.

Police said the operation was ‘complex’ due to the height at which the protestors were situated, adding it would take time to get them down.

But furious drivers blasted the police’s response, saying they were ‘playing into the hands’ of eco activists by shutting the bridge.

Meanwhile, other protesters threw soup over the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and halted traffic outside the building in busy central London.

A dozen protesters gathered on Victoria Street in Westminster just after 11.30am, sitting down in the road holding banners and glueing themselves to the tarmac and each other.

A number of other protesters then threw soup on to the front of the building. Just Stop Oil said that they targeted the BEIS because it is the Government department responsible for allowing new fossil fuel extraction.

In perhaps their most disruptive protest yet, Just Stop Oil was responsible for the QE2 Bridge at Dartford on the M25 being closed all day from 5am after two activists ascended 275ft masts and dangled over the structure

October 18 – Baron’s Court blockade

The following day, the two protesters who were suspended from the QE2 bridge were removed and arrested by police to the joy of drivers – after a ‘super cherry picker’ arrived to pluck them from the girders.

The crossing finally reopened after 36 hours following the protesters agreeing to co-operate with officers and come down as the ‘specialised raised platform’ arrived on the bridge.

Police said they ‘worked hard’ to bring the situation to a safe conclusion and considered a number of options before bringing in an elevated platform which allowed specialist officers to work from height.

The same day, a fuming motorist yelled at police officers for doing nothing as Just Stop Oil ‘idiots waste my time’ as they blocked the A4 into London during rush hour.

The driver was filmed out his car shouting at a police officer as a group of more than 20 eco-zealots who staged a sit-down demonstration outside Baron’s Court station this morning, blocked one of the main roads into the capital.

Another Londoner also angrily confronted Just Stop Oil protesters in the middle of the road and demanded the ‘lazy b*****ds get a job’.

Activists of Just Stop Oil climate campaign group hold a banner at Barons Court in west London as they block the A4

October 19 – Action on the A4

Another roadblock was in place the next morning, resulting in 25 arrests after traffic was stopped on one of London’s busiest roads.

Vehicles were gridlocked on the A4 Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum as the group continued its month-long protest. 

Video showed multiple officers stood in front of protesters who are sat on the road, with one PC politely asking an activist: ‘Why won’t you move?’

The group were later dragged off the road and taken into custody by police officers and the road reopened less than two hours after the demonstration began.

Meanwhile, campaigners appealed for help so they have somewhere to stay at night while they rest after protesting, setting up a fundraiser asking for £3,000 of support. 

Protesters from Just Stop Oil block the Cromwell Road near the Natural History Museum in west London

October 20 – Harrods splattered in orange

The spray paint was back as the protest reached its 20th consecutive day, with activists splattering the world-famous Harrods store in orange before blocking all traffic outside the Knightsbridge store.

Some 20 supporters of the group glued themselves to Brompton Road, directly outside Harrods, with some using locks to attach themselves together.

A video shared on its Twitter page showed protesters spraying their distinctive orange paint on the windows of the luxury shop, as members of the public could be heard asking: ‘What are you doing?’

Footage then appeared to show Harrods security staff taking those spraying paint inside the store, as two people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

But furious members of the public attempted to drag the protesters, all of whom wore orange jackets and held a banner aloft, off the road as traffic was brought to a standstill.

One man, dressed in a black suit, who is seen hauling and throwing banners away from the road, shouted: ‘People have places to be instead of f*****g wasting time.’

Another man said: ‘How are you saving the planet? These cars are now kicking up more fumes.’

Activists sprayed an orange substance on the windows of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge

October 21 – Holborn hold-up

The third week of non-stop protests came to a close with another roadblock, this time near Holborn tube station.

A frustrated black cab driver told the activists to ‘get a job’ during the disruption, before police intervened and made 16 arrests. 

During the demonstration, some sat in the road with banners while others glued themselves onto the tarmac. Meanwhile, an angry motorist ripped a banner out of the hands of a protester.

One of those detained was Rev. Sue Parfitt, an 80-year-old retired Anglican priest. She has previously been arrested over a number of climate protests, and earlier this year quashed a conviction for her part in a protest which saw 20 people block entrances to Britain’s largest military site in December 2020.

As the pensioner was being led, arm-in-arm with a police officer to a waiting van, she said: ‘I am doing this because we are on the brink of the greatest catastrophe that human beings have ever known, and the Government and the public have to wake up to this.

‘The Government’s in extreme dereliction of its duty in not explaining the facts of climate change to the public.’

Just Stop Oil supporters blocks a key road junction in Holborn on their 21st day of action across the month of October

October 22 – Islington blockade

The start of the fourth week of action saw more protesters glueing themselves to roads, this time in Islington.

Roughly 20 activists walked into the road in north London and stopped traffic at Upper Street and Islington Green at 12pm. Some supporters glued themselves onto the tarmac and others used lock-ons.

Police arrested 17 protesters for wilful obstruction of the highway and cleared both carriageways of Upper Street by 1.55pm.

Just Stop Oil protesters block traffic in Islington this morning on their 22nd day of action across the month of October

October 23 – Abbey Road sit-down

Four protesters were arrested the following day after blocking the iconic Abbey Road crossing in north west London.

Members of the eco-mob walked onto the pedestrian crossing – made famous by The Beatles album of the same name – at 1pm on Sunday as they continued to cause chaos on the roads of the capital.

They were later pictured being handcuffed and carried away by Metropolitan Police officers little over an hour after the force arrived to the scene.

At least one vehicle was seen driving on the pavement to get round the protesters, before the Met sent four police vans and dozens of police officers to the scene and the road was closed while they worked to remove the activists.

The force confirmed it had reopened the road just over an hour later and arrested four people on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters demonstrating on the famous Abbey Road crossing in London

October 24 – King’s waxwork cake attack

On Monday, police arrested a group of protesters after they threw chocolate cake in the face of a waxwork of King Charles III at Madame Tussauds.

Footage shows two of the eco zealots walking up to the waxwork at the famous London attraction at around 10.50am before taking off their tops to reveal Just Stop Oil t-shirts. One of them shouts, ‘This is a time for action’ before they both smear it with cake.

As onlookers shouted ‘stop’, the female protester began a finger-wagging lecture about climate change while her male counterpart stands awkwardly with his arms crossed.

Just Stop Oil identified the pair as Eilidh McFadden, a 20-year-old from Glasgow and Tom Johnson, 29, a painter decorator from Sunderland. They had bought tickets to Madame Tussauds and wore black tops to cover their t-shirts. 

The Met confirmed they had been arrested for criminal damage alongside two others. Nearby waxworks of Camilla, William and Kate emerged unscathed.

Two Just Stop Oil activists threw chocolate cake on a waxwork model of King Charles III at Madam Tussauds in London

October 25 – Tufton Street paint attack

Day 25 of the action saw activists spray an organ substance over the front door of a building associated with climate change sceptics and Brexit-backing think-tanks on Tuesday,

Footage showed a fanatic dousing the front of 55 Tufton Street in Westminster, home to the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) and other fossil fuel lobby groups, in the liquid this morning.

The spray paint came as part of a wider protest which saw a total of six protesters block Horseferry Road. Some protesters glued themselves onto the tarmac in the road while others locked themselves together.

A furious taxi driver was seen driving over the pavement as zealots lay in the middle of nearby Horseferry Road to block traffic. The Metropolitan Police said the chaos was cleared up by 1.20pm.

Officers arrested one person on suspicion of criminal damage and seven others on suspicion of wilful obstruction of the highway.

The protester who threw the paint, identified by Just Stop Oil as a ‘normal guy from south London’, said he attacked the property in an attempt to fight ‘big oil, famine, pestilence and war’.

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of protesters demonstrating on Tufton Street by throwing orange paint on a building in London

October 26 – Car showroom paint attack 

Just Stop Oil caused lunchtime chaos again today by blocking a busy junction outside The Ritz in central London and gluing themselves to the tarmac.

The protest prompted expletive-ridden clashes with angry motorists who dragged activists out of the road and accused them of ‘holding up ambulances’.

At around midday on Wednesday, eco zealots blocked Piccadilly near Green Park by sitting in the road with banners while three had glued themselves to the tarmac. 

Police said 11 people have been arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway and taken into custody at a central London police station, with the road re-opening just before 1pm. 

Footage emerged showing angry drivers in a heated confrontation with the eco activists, who were blocking the road outside The Ritz hotel, with one saying: ‘Move out the f***ing way you c***s’.

Hours earlier, two climate activists were arrested for criminal damage this morning after they sprayed orange paint on luxury car showrooms in Berkeley Square, central London. 

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of the HR Owen car showroom on Berkley Square in central London which has been sprayed with paint