Three Rochdale residents arrested in Just Stop Oil blockade of Essex oil dept

Three Rochdale residents were arrested for obstruction of the highway on Tuesday (23 August).

Former councillor Wendy Cocks, 64, former vicar Reverend Mark Coleman, 63, and Jane Touil, 56, were among 12 Just Stop Oil supporters who sat on an approach road to the Navigator oil terminal in Essex, stopping tankers going in and out.

Just Stop Oil’s key demand is that the UK government makes a meaningful statement that it will not approve or licence any new oil, gas and coal projects in the UK.

Just Stop Oil says it will stop disruption as soon as the government makes this statement. The campaign points out that the current cost of living crisis is being driven by huge increases in oil and gas prices. It says the cheapest form of electricity generation is on-shore wind and, if this was expanded, it would bring energy bills down and increase energy security. 

Wendy, from Turf Hill, was a councillor for West Heywood until May this year. She was arrested for the first time. She said: “We must stop the approval of new oil and gas projects planned by the UK government.  It's crazy that this is what the government is planning to do. It will drive us deeper into a cost-of-living crisis and risk the very future of our civilisation.”

Jane, who until recently worked for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in Manchester, said: “We are in a last-ditch attempt to stop climate disaster. We have enough oil and gas on tap now to last for eight years. We need to use that time to transition to clean, green energy.

“We have the renewable technologies to do that but the government is still giving the go-ahead to new oil and gas. The UN Secretary General has said that any investment in new oil and gas is ‘moral and economic madness’. The government needs to listen and do the right thing to protect us all.”

 

 

Former Vicar of Rochdale Parish Church, Rev Mark Coleman has been arrested a number of times for climate related civil disobedience.

He said: "We need an emergency response by government at every level.

“We have felt the danger of extreme heat in Rochdale and seen the records broken throughout the country. We know how much destruction oil and gas are causing. Change is coming. We all need to step up now to resist the government's plans. Let's choose life and resist disaster.'

Essex police released the three after they spent several hours in police custody in Basildon and Chelmsford. The police investigation is ongoing and disruption from Just Stop Oil supporters is set to continue until the end of August.

The campaign also demands that everybody working in the fossil fuel sector should be supported into good jobs in the green economy and that the excess profits of the fossil fuel companies should be taxed to pay for this.