Fossil Free London held the first of six protests planned for the next fortnight [Pic: Fossil Free London]
As ministers head to Cop31, climate campaigners are taking their fight to the Treasury, demanding Labour abandons new fossil fuel projects and steps up its green ambitions
A FORTNIGHT of protests against fossil fuels began outside the Treasury today as ministers headed to Turkey for the Cop31 climate summit.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to enter his first climate talks as PM tomorrow, but Fossil Free London called his record on the question “abysmal” and Friends of the Earth demanded higher taxes on the oil and gas industry to fund environmental clean-ups and climate mitigation.
Fossil Free London held the first of six protests planned for the next fortnight, demanding the government rule out approval of the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea.
Its director Robin Wells said: “We know that [Cop31] is a busman’s holiday for the fossil fuel industry, and usually awash with an oil slick of fossil fuel lobbyists.
“Andy Burnham’s record on climate so far is abysmal. Not only did he grant Shell a climate-wrecking gas field, Jackdaw, the government has just cut the warm homes programme, pledged to veto new wind farms and will potentially roll back the electric vehicle mandate.”
Rejecting Rosebank would place Labour on a collision course with industry unions, which argue the collapse of the North Sea oil and gas industry without a planned transition to renewables would abandon communities and threaten energy security.
Friends of the Earth said the government should go further than rejecting Rosebank by vetoing expansion of Heathrow airport and placing a moratorium on the construction of new data centres.
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.
US President Donald Trump holds a press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, shortly after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, 2026. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
US President Donald Trump said Turkey had been a potential participant in the war on Iran’s side.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran — maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,”
Trump claimed that he personally intervened and asked Erdogan to stay out of the conflict, adding that the Turkish president had complied with the request.
Asked whether he would respond positively to Ankara’s request to acquire F-35 fighter jets and jet engines needed for its domestically produced combat aircraft, Trump said he would “probably do something” that would satisfy Turkey.
He also confirmed his intention to attend the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara “out of respect” for Erdogan.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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A view of Al Qunaitra, where, over the past year since the fall of the Assad regime, the Israeli army has detained more than 40 people, established nine military bases in and around civilian settlements and strategic hills, and took over approximately 12,000 acres of land in the province in southern Syria on December 17, 2025. [Bakr Al Kasem – Anadolu Agency]
Tensions are rising between Israel and Turkey over the Turkish presence in Syria. Two Western intelligence sources told i24NEWS on Thursday that Turkey has been working in recent weeks to deploy radar systems inside Syrian territory.
The move is expected to significantly limit Israel’s freedom of movement in Syrian airspace. It could also affect Israel’s ability to use Syrian airspace to carry out operations in other areas, including Iran.
According to foreign reports, the deployment of Turkish radars in Syria would allow Turkey to track the movement of Israeli aircraft in Syrian skies, even while they are passing through on their way to missions in Iraq and Iran. This capability could place major restrictions on the operational freedom of the Israeli air force.
An Israeli security source told the website that the possibility of Turkey establishing a military base in Syria represents a “potential threat”. The source added: “If a Turkish air base is established, this would harm Israel’s freedom of action in Syria.”
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Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Burhanettin Duran in Antalya, Turkiye on April 13, 2025. [Hakan Nural – Anadolu Agency]
Turkey has rejected comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing Ankara of harbouring “imperial ambitions”, describing the remarks as a cheap tactic aimed at diverting attention from Israel’s crimes in the region.
Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidency’s communications directorate, said on Tuesday that Israel’s “hysterical approach” to Turkey’s growing power and influence was “ridiculous”, adding that Ankara would continue to stand firmly with those seeking peace and stability.
Duran made the comments in a social media post responding to statements by Netanyahu during a summit held in Jerusalem on Monday, attended by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
He said Israel’s long-standing hysterical approach, as a destabilizing force in the region, towards Turkey’s influence “can only be described as ridiculous”, adding that under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has become a guarantor of peace and stability.
Duran strongly criticised Netanyahu’s government, saying it had brought “blood and tears” to the region. He said Israel continues to act as an occupying power in Palestine and Syria, while attempting to conceal “expansionist ambitions under the banner of national security”.
He said Israeli officials’ references to the “imperial ambitions of others” amounted to a glaring contradiction, particularly in light of the perpetration of one of the most horrific genocides in history.
Duran said Israel has launched attacks on seven countries in the Middle East over the past two years, adding that Netanyahu’s government has been “a disaster in every sense of the word”, not only for the region but also for Israeli society.
He accused Israel of trying to divert attention from its actions by attacking Turkey, stressing that Ankara would not be deterred from supporting the Palestinian people.
“We in Turkey will continue to stand firmly with all those who seek peace and stability,” Duran said, adding that such remarks would not prevent Turkey from backing “our Palestinian brothers”.
He concluded by saying that peace would ultimately prevail, despite efforts to undermine it.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Thousands of demonstrators gather at Museumplein demanding firm government action to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza, in Amsterdam on October 5, 2025. (Photo by Mouneb Taim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
An estimated 250,000 people dressed in red crowded into Museum Square in Amsterdam, demanding that the Dutch government end its support for Israel.
Expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and pressuring Dutch officials to end their longtime support for Israel were the goals of a massive demonstration in Amsterdam Sunday—one of the largest pro-Palestine protests held in Europe over the weekend as the two-year anniversary of Israel’s bombardment of the exclave approached.
“The bloodshed must stop—and we unfortunately have to stand here because we have such an incredibly weak government that doesn’t dare to draw a red line. That’s why we are here, in the hope that it helps,” protester Marieke van Zijl told the Associated Press on Sunday in Museum Square in central Amsterdam, where an estimated 250,000 people gathered.
The protests in Amsterdam and across Europe came as Israel garnered global condemnation for its interception of more than 400 humanitarians from around the world who sailed toward Gaza in recent weeks with the Global Sumud Flotilla with the aim of delivering aid to the besieged territory, where a famine was declared in August due to Israel’s near-total blockade on food, water, fuel, and other necessities entering Gaza.
Wow!
Amsterdam today 🇳🇱
A tsunami of people demanding an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, citizens carried signs reading, “Gaza: Starvation Is a Weapon of War,” while in Turkey’s capital of Ankara, protesters held up placards condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza, where more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.
Scholars on genocide and the Holocaust have joined leading human rights organizations—including some in Israel—and United Nations experts in declaring that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is a genocide. The International Court of Justice is also considering an ongoing genocide case brought by South Africa regarding the military assault and starvation policy.
In Amsterdam, most protesters wore red in solidarity with Palestine and many displayed Palestinian flags.
In the Netherlands, the government has long been a staunch supporter of Israel but in recent months has increasingly denounced its attacks on Gaza. In July it banned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering the country because they “repeatedly incited violence against the Palestinian population.”
On Friday, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said he was “unlikely” to grant an export license to send F-35 fighter jet components to Israel. The country’s Supreme Court last week ordered the government to review the currently suspended license to determine whether reinstating it would violate international law. The Netherlands is home to one of three regional warehouses for components of the US-made fighter jets.
Marjon Rozema, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, which helped organize the demonstration, called for the Dutch government to use “all economic and diplomatic means to increase pressure on Israel.”
Mass demonstrations were also held over the weekend in countries including Spain and Italy, where demonstrators demanded the release of organizers who had been aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Rome, Madrid, and Barcelona, home of former Mayor Ada Colau, who was among those detained by Israel last week.
JUST IN: 300,000 people marched in Barcelona, one of the LARGEST pro-Palestinian protests in the city’s history! pic.twitter.com/fdPVrDNDwd
Organizers in Rome said 1 million people took part in Saturday’s march, which followed Friday’s one-day general strike across Italy.
“Governments, especially the Italians, are not taking action against what is happening in Gaza,” one university teacher told the BBC on Friday at a rally. “We’re here to say that it is time to intervene and solve things.”
Hundreds of thousands fill the streets of Rome in support of Gaza and in protest against the genocide. pic.twitter.com/NNovgFmI69
“The Italian demonstrations for Gaza and the flotilla have been of a rather unprecedented power in recent times,” said scholar Bruno Montesano on Monday. “And they have had a global resonance that is equally surprising. And perhaps its strength derived from a sort of widespread spontaneous humanitarianism, as well as from the clashing contradictions between Western liberal-democratic chatter—certainly weakened even further due to the rise of the far right—and the racist and colonial practice of supporting Israeli fascism.”
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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Fossil Free London held the first of six protests planned for the next fortnight [Pic: Fossil Free London]
![US President Donald Trump holds a press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, shortly after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25, 2026. [Celal Güneş - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AA-20260426-41212719-41212702-US_PRESIDENT_DONALD_TRUMP_SPEAKS_IN_WASHINGTON_DC.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
