Four arrested as Just Stop Oil vandalise energy giant Total’s Canary Wharf HQ with paint
Total Energies was the latest victim of Just Stop Oil’s crusade against fossil fuels, with the group throwing orange paint over the ground floor windows of its Canary Wharf base.
Over a dozen protestors were involved in the vandalism, which also included a public demonstration after the windows were smeared at around 8am this morning.
The police later confirmed it had arrested four people on suspicion of criminal protest after they were promptly called to the scene.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for Total said it “fully respects the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression,” however the company also “deplores all forms of violence, whether verbal, physical or material.”
After the paint was smeared across the glass, the group sat cross-legged outside entrance, placing a banner on the ground echoing the slogan ‘Just Stop Oil’.
Protestors also held placards reading “Stop EACOP, Stop Genocide.”
EACOP refers to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, a proposed 1,443km development that will transport fuel from oilfields in Uganda near Lake Albert to ports in Tanzania.
“We took action against Total today in solidarity with Students EACOP, who are marching to Parliament in Uganda in resistance against the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline project,” Just Stop Oil confirmed on Twitter.
Once completed, EACOP would be the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world, however it is a highly controversial project due to the environmental toll in its construction.
The EU has been critical of its construction and finance, with green groups and activists raising concerns over concerns community displacement, disturbance to wildlife and water supplies, and its contribution to carbon emissions and global warming.
On the energy giant’s website, Total confirms it recognises the project is “situated in a sensitive social and environmental context” but has defended the project as being in line with the “highest international standards.”
It also predicts the project will support 80,000 jobs in the region, providing $2bn worth of work to the region’s economies.
Just Stop Oil has also been engaged in direct action such as disrupting sporting events and holding up traffic across the capital, as it looks to bring awareness to its calls for the government not to approve any new oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
This has become an increasingly heated topic with the approval of Rosebank, the UK’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field, expected imminently.
The government has defended the domestic role of oil and gas development as essential feature of its energy security strategy amid the transition to low carbon power while reducing the West’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels.