Just Stop Oil activists target MI5 and Home Office buildings

Environmental activists have sprayed orange paint on buildings in central London, calling for the government to halt new oil and gas licences.

Just Stop Oil targeted buildings used by the Home Office, MI5, the Bank of England and News Corp.

The group said the buildings were chosen as they represented “the four pillars that support and maintain the power of the fossil fuel economy”.

The Metropolitan Police said six people have been arrested.

“Officers responded quickly to all incidents and a number of people have now been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage,” the force said.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said: “The era of fossil fuels should be long gone, but the creeping tentacles of fossil fuel interests continue to corrupt our politics, government and the media, as they have for decades.

“How else do you explain a government ignoring sensible no-brainer policies like renewables, insulation and public transport, which would cut our energy bills and our carbon emissions, in favour of corrupt schemes to drill for uneconomic oil and gas at taxpayers expense?”

The group has taken part in numerous demonstrations in recent months, including blocking roads, tying themselves to goalposts during football matches and throwing soup at art.

On Sunday, the police urged people not to directly intervene with the protests, after angry drivers removed demonstrators who were blocking roads in central London.