Just Stop Oil Announces It Will Cease Museum Demonstrations
134April 1, 2025
UK-based environmental activist groupJust Stop Oilon March 27revealedthat it will no longer mount protests targeting museums and public spaces following a final demonstration, to take place in London’s Parliament Square on April 26. The move comes in the wake of the UK’s adoption earlier this month of alawbanning licenses for new oil and gas projects that have not yet been approved, something the organization had actively sought. “It is the end of soup on Van Goghs, cornstarch on Stonehenge and slow marching in the streets,” wrote the eco-group in a statement.
Formed in 2022, Just Stop Oil drew wide attention to its cause with a number of high-profile demonstrations that in some casesearned their members prison time. Efforts included gluing themselves to the frame of a Turner painting at the Manchester Art Gallery in 2022; souping Van Gogh’sSunflowersat London’s National Gallery in2022and 2024;hammering on the glassof Diego Velázquez’sThe Toilet of Venusat the same institution in 2023; andblasting Stonehengewith orange cornstarch in 2024. The organization reports that its members have been arrested 3,300 times to date, with seven currently in prison, eight on remand, and sixteen awaiting sentencing.
“Just Stop Oil’s initial demand to end new oil and gas is now government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history,” wrote the organization. “We’ve made fossil-fuel licensing front page news and kept over 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the ground, while courts have ruled new oil and gas unlawful.” The eco-group has set its sights on fighting policies contributing to a catastrophic global temperature increase of 3°C, which scientists have set as the point of no return. Just Stop Oil has said it will adopt a new approach in order to achieve its goal but has not yet publicly outlined its methods.