Some courtyards have run out of fuel over the weekend amid a perfect storm of environmental protests, rising demand after the lockdown and the war in Ukraine. Activists from the Just Stop Oil group have blocked entrances outside major terminals across the country, making it difficult to transport fuel in and out. Warehouses affected include those in Warwickshire, Hertfordshire and Essex – disrupting deliveries to petrol stations in the south-east and central regions. But speaking to the Conservative Daily Mail, the interior minister said it was “selfish” to protest and disrupt the polluting industry. And he tried to link the protests to Labor, stressing that the party had not backed draconian new police powers in the bill on police, crime, conviction and the courts. The bill has been repeatedly rejected by peers from various parties in the House of Lords on the grounds that it undermines the right to protest – including banning noisy and annoying demonstrations and criminalizing trapped protesters. But the interior minister said: “Hard-working people across our country are seeing their lives stopped by selfish, fanatical and frankly so-called activists. “Keir Starmer’s Labor Party has repeatedly voted against our proposals that would give the police extra powers to deal with this ecological mob. The police have my full support to do whatever is necessary to address this public nuisance. . “ The allegation is misleading because the police are already in a position to arrest such protesters in accordance with applicable laws, such as breaches of public order or obstruction of a motorway. Protesters say they have dug a tunnel down a road to block deliveries to the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire. They also locked the gates of Buncefield Terminal in Hertfordshire and shut down the Exolum storage terminal in Grays, Essex. The group wants ministers to agree to halt all new investment in fossil fuels in light of the climate emergency – but the government said this year it was continuing with new drilling and asked industry to write its own environmental policy manual. The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy claimed that “all refueling points are fully operational” in an apparent effort to reduce the panic market and dry up petrol stations.
