Campaigners from Fossil Free London, Christian Climate Action and Stop Rosebank gathered outside DESNZ to protest against new oil and gas, October 31, 2026[Pic: Fossil Free London]
HUNDREDS of climate activists rallied outside the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero in London on Saturday, demanding that it rejects an application to develop the North Sea Rosebank oil field.
Activists from Fossil Free London, Christian Climate Action, Stop Rosebank, and Greenpeace also denounced the government’s decision last week to approve the Jackdaw gas field, displaying banners and chanting: “Rosebank? No thanks!”
Fossil Free London director Robin Wells said: “At a time when we need climate action, the government slapped us with Jackdaw. If Rosebank is also approved it would be a climate wrecking ball whose impact would shatter public safety for generations.
“It shouldn’t be anybody’s job to remind those in elected positions that burning more oil and gas is not compatible with a liveable future in which we can enjoy safety in our homes, workplaces and the national parks we love. Fires and heatwaves will only get worse. [Prime Minister] Andy Burnham knows this.”
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
Mass Berlin demo illustrates growing divide between public and government position on genocide in Gaza.
Germany’s biggest demonstration to date in solidarity with Palestine brought more than 100,000 people into the streets of Berlin on Saturday, September 27. Initiated by a wide coalition of organizations – including Palestinian groups, peace and health associations, climate activists, and artists – the protest demanded an end to German-Israeli military cooperation and repression of solidarity movements, as well as support for Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
“We are taking to the streets to demand an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza and to stand up for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, freedom, and dignity,” Basem Said of the Palestinian community in Berlin said of the protest’s demands.
“While everyone can see the mass atrocities being committed by the Israeli army in Gaza, the German government denies the systematic violence,” the organizers wrote in their call. Framed this way, the march explicitly challenged the principle of Staatsräson, Germany’s self-declared “reason of state” tying much of its political identity to support for Israel.
The demonstration comes as the divide between public and governmental positions on this issue widens. Recent polling shows that a majority of Germans – 62% – believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. That figure rises to nearly 80% among supporters of the left party Die Linke and over 70% among those of the Greens and the Social Democrats. Yet the government continues to deepen ties with Israel even as other European administrations have made minor concessions under pressure from mass mobilizations, such as symbolic recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly’s high-level week.
Source: Laurențiu Dragota/DKP Berlin
Similar behavior continued in the days leading up to the protest. On September 25, for example, German Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche met with her Israeli counterpart, emphasizing the “unique, deep and multi-layered nature” of the cooperation between the two countries. “Israel’s economy is not only resilient but globally recognized for its cutting-edge technology, entrepreneurial spirit and vibrant start-up economy,” Reiche was quoted saying. By that date, Israel had killed at least 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza, with hundreds of thousands more suffering starvation and violent displacement.
“The German government continues to hold on to its cause and support the Israeli government,” said Dr. Khaled Hamad, one of the signatories of the initiative Together for Gaza (Zusammen für Gaza). “German involvement in the genocide against the Palestinians must be stopped, and double standards ended.”
The organizers and supporters of Saturday’s events were diverse. Coordinators of the central event included the Palestinian community in Germany, eye4palestine, Amnesty International Germany, and medico international, joined by Fridays for Future groups, the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network, and Germans Against Genocide. They were echoed by journalists, writers, and left-wing political activists who launched the call for the demonstration. In total, dozens of organizations and initiatives participated in the preparation under the umbrellas of All Eyes on Gaza and Together for Gaza.
Demonstrations are expected to continue across Europe throughout October. In Germany, a peace protest is scheduled for the coming weekend, coinciding with German Unity Day. In Spain, Italy, Romania, Croatia, and other countries, actions in the following days will denounce government complicity after two years of genocide in Gaza and renew demands to end all ties with the occupation regime.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
A climate activist interrupts Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s keynote speech at the Yorkshire Labour Party Conference in protest against new subsidies for Drax Power Station, March 1, 2025
CLIMATE activists disrupted Rachel Reeves’s speech to the Yorkshire Labour Party Conference on Saturday, condemning new subsidies for the tree-burning Drax power station.
As the Chancellor spoke, the two protesters stood up and condemned the environmental damage caused by Drax, which claims to be sustainable, allowing it to receive billions of pounds in green subsidies, but remains Britain’s biggest carbon emitter.
A BBC investigation previously exposed Drax for sourcing wood from rare forests, yet Labour has extended its subsidies until at least 2031 — costing taxpayers an estimated £2 billion.
Rosie, of campaigner group Axe Drax, said: “Labour has once again shown that they are on the side of the lobbyists, choosing to hand billions … to Drax, which has just announced over £1bn in earnings, while slashing winter fuel payments and presiding over yet another energy bill price hike.
“Rather than funding Drax’s shareholders profits, we desperately need investment in real green energy and climate action that will bring down emissions and bills — like home insulation.”
The disruption led to Ms Reeves pausing her speech while the protesters were ejected by security staff.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
MORE THAN 50 activists plan to march from HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, to the Royal Courts of Justice, Westminster, where 16 climate activists will appeal against their draconian prison sentences tomorrow [today].
The Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists were jailed for a combined 41 years for taking non-violent action to call for an end to reliance on fossil fuels.
The sentences include five years imposed on JSO founder Roger Hallam for organising a protest over Zoom, and two years given to Phoebe Plummer after she threw soup on glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
Last year, then UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders Michel Forst condemned the use of legislation such as the Public Order Act and civil injunctions to criminalise peaceful protests.
When Mr Hallam and four others were jailed for organising a protest on the M25, Mr Forst described it as a dark day for “anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms” in Britain.
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Steve Scott-Robson a 63-year-old father and educator joining the walk said: “I applaud loudly the spirit of these 16 activists, and I am grateful to them for their brave and defiant actions.
“It is an utter abomination that the country that has benefited from industrialisation first — and therefore longest — is the country in Europe that has the harshest legislation aimed at environmental activists.”
The Whole Truth Five (from left to right) Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Cressida Gethin, Louise Lancaster, Daniel Shaw and Roger HallamPhoto: Just Stop Oil
SIXTEEN non-violent Just Stop Oil protesters handed draconian sentences since July have been granted an extraordinary mass hearing before the Court of Appeal next year, it was announced on Saturday.
The hearing on January 29 and 30 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London will examine four separate cases involving activists from the group. Key points of contention will include whether conscientious motivation should be considered a mitigating factor.
The outcome is anticipated to be a defining moment for protest rights in Britain.
The 16 include the “Whole Truth Five,” who organised a protest on the M25 calling for a halt to new oil and gas licences. Roger Hallam, Cressida Gethin, Louise Lancaster, Daniel Shaw, and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu received a combined total of 21 years for their action.
At the time, UN special rapporteur Michel Forst said the verdict marked a dark day for “anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms” in Britain.
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Spokesman for the Free Political Prisoners campaign Lex Korte said: “A subset of judges have responded all too eagerly to the call from the disgraced Lord Walney, the arms and oil industry lobbyist, to jail peaceful climate campaigners for longer than if they’d committed serious crimes of sexual violence.
Campaigners from Fossil Free London, Christian Climate Action and Stop Rosebank gathered outside DESNZ to protest against new oil and gas, October 31, 2026[Pic: Fossil Free London]
