A Southend protester has been arrested after trying to scale the gates of Downing Street in climate change action in London.

Three activists have been arrested from Essex in London over the weekend, following a string of arrests of people from the county throughout October.

They are among hundreds of Just Stop Oil supporters who have been arrested for blocking traffic in Central London, bringing the capital to a standstill for the 5th week running.

They are demanding that the Government commits to ending all new oil and gas projects in the UK.

Steph Golder from Southend was arrested trying to scale the gates of Downing Street yesterday having already been arrested over the weekend.

She said, as she was led away by Police officers: “We have just tried to climb the gates to Downing Street because the government is not acting on the climate crisis, they’re not acting on the cost of living crisis so people need to take back the power.

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"We have the power, we need to get on the streets, all of us, because people are dying around the world and they are going to die in this country this winter because of the cost of living crisis.

"People can’t afford food, can’t afford energy, and energy companies are raking it in, making billions in profit while causing people around the world to die and I’ve had enough.

"I don’t know what else to do and that’s why I am here today. Hopefully people will continue to join us because we can’t live like this anymore.” 

Just Stop Oil supporters, including those from the East of England, attempted to scale the gates of Downing Street on Tuesday and blocked Whitehall, having blocked other major roads in London in the preceding days.

On each occasion they sat down in the road with their now familiar banners, with many gluing themselves to the tarmac.

Just Stop Oil says there have been scenes of angry drivers shouting abuse, throwing traffic bollards and dragging the Just Stop Oil supporters off the road, only for them to return immediately to sit down in the road again.

The campaigners say despite these reports, recent polling has shown a huge surge in support for nonviolent direct action of the sort carried out by Just Stop Oil, with 66 per cent saying they support taking nonviolent direct action to protect the climate and just 34 per cent opposed.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said “Rishi Sunak is about to U-turn on attending COP27. We demand that he also U-turn on new oil and gas. This genocidal policy will kill millions of people, while failing to address the worst cost of living crisis this country has ever seen.

“Its time for a serious windfall tax on big oil, without the get-out-of-jail-free tax credits that will encourage more oil and gas that we cannot afford. Vulnerable people will be freezing to death in their homes this winter, unable to afford to heat a can of soup, while his government refuses to tax the rich and the big energy companies that are profiting from our misery.

“We owe it to our young people to stop fossil fuels, we owe it to our workers to create a just transition to a zero carbon economy and we owe it to our old people to enable them to live with dignity. We are not prepared to stand by and watch while everything we love is destroyed."