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Just Stop Oil begin slow cycling protests

“We are happy to show solidarity with cyclists everywhere and ask them to join us in civil resistance,” the group said

Just Stop Oil has staged its first ‘slow cycle’ through London today, as part of the group’s plans to “evolve” its tactics in the face of what it claims is the government’s attempt to “restrict our legitimate rights to protest”.

The environmentalist group has staged slow marches on the streets of London for the last seven weeks in a bid to draw attention to their demand that the British government puts a stop to “all licences and consents for new oil, gas, and coal projects”.

Until now, all of these protests have been on foot, but this morning at 8am, nine Just Stop Oil activists slowly rode their bikes in London’s West End, as two other groups of supporters marched at Chiswick roundabout and Blackheath.

An hour and a half after the demonstration began on Park Lane, the Metropolitan Police tweeted that they had issued the group with a section 12 order for causing disruption to traffic, and moved the protesting cyclists onto the pavement.

The decision to usher the bike riding activists off the road and onto the footpath, however, provoked a bemused response on Twitter.

“The same pavement where it’s illegal to cycle by any chance?” wrote one user. “Hi Essex Police, remember when you told me I’d be fined if caught cycling on the pavement in Wickford to avoid getting killed by lorries? I’m taking a leaf out of the Met’s book and using the pavement from now on.”

A spokesperson from Just Stop Oil told road.cc today that the move to riding bikes slowly across the road is a response to the government’s attempts to clamp down on the disruption caused by the marching activists in recent weeks.

“This criminal government is quietly signing off on over 100 new oil and gas projects that will hasten climate collapse and destroy the conditions that make human life possible. It is an act of war against the young and millions of people in the global south,” the spokesperson said.

“At the same time, they are enacting laws to ensure that no-one can stop them. They are restricting our legitimate rights to protest and to march in the road as people have done throughout history to express dissent. So, our tactics will continue to evolve.

“We are happy to show solidarity with cyclists everywhere and ask them to join us in civil resistance. Whether marching or cycling we will continue to do whatever is non-violently possible to end new oil and gas.”

> “You are f***ing it up for all of us”: Cyclist makes the headlines after berating Just Stop Oil activists for “hurting the green cause”

The call for cyclists to join Just Stop Oil’s campaign of civil resistance comes just over a week after a man on a bike made headlines for confronting the protesters during a slow march and claiming that they were “harming the green cause”.

The cyclist approached the activists as they slowly walked down Holloway Road in north London, blocking traffic, as part of a series of Bank Holiday demonstrations. The rider – who pointed out to the protesters that he was “a liberal and a cyclist” – told them: “Everyone is just trying to go about their business, go about their day, and you are f***ing it all up for all of them.

“You might feel better about yourselves, but all you are doing is harming the cause because everyone hates you. I’m a liberal, and a cyclist, and I live in north London – and I hate you.”

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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99 comments

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Dnnnnnn replied to AidanR | 1 year ago
3 likes
AidanR wrote:

Clearly you're never been along Tooley Street in rush hour.

My office is on Tooley Street.

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AidanR replied to Dnnnnnn | 1 year ago
3 likes

Are you one of the annoying pedestrians or one of the annoying cyclists? 😂

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Steve K | 1 year ago
7 likes

Hi Viz tick

Helmets tick

What are people complaining about?

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Clem Fandango replied to Steve K | 1 year ago
1 like

So what do road.cc mean by JSO "begin  slow cycling protests" ??

I've always wondered what the anti cycling culture warriors were on about - 5 abreast, doing 3 mph mile after mile - I've not experienced that once in decades behind the wheel.

It all makes sense now.

Avatar
brooksby | 1 year ago
5 likes

How long until Braverman decides to ban bicycles "just in case"...?

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morgoth985 replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
3 likes

Don't give her ideas.

Avatar
Steve K replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
6 likes
brooksby wrote:

How long until Braverman decides to ban bicycles "just in case"...?

It's already in effect impossible to cycle to a protest, as they'll nick you for having a bike lock.

Avatar
Muddy Ford | 1 year ago
5 likes

Great, so now I have to throw my orange cycling jacket away to avoid the brain dead mongrels in corsas and transit vans believing they are rightously mowing me down in support of 'hard working man'  thinking I'm part of a JSO protest

Avatar
Festus replied to Muddy Ford | 1 year ago
1 like

Have to agree my rides are bad enough now, these muppets are stirring up more bad feelings with motorists especially as i live on the new Eulez border

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