Two Just Stop Oil supporters have been at the High Court this week, challenging Shell’s anti-protest injunctions.
Charles Phillip Laurie and Emma Ireland have represented themselves at the High Court to directly challenge Shell. They are among 13 Just Stop Oil supporters who have refused to sign undertakings not to protest at oil terminals, petrol stations and Shell’s HQ in the future.
The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice before Mr Justice Dexter Dias related to three Shell injunctions which were secured in May 2022 following Just Stop Oil’s protests at oil terminals and petrol stations.
The civil proceedings that Shell has initiated, with the support of the government, are to finalise the three injunctions that Shell is using to stop protests from Just Stop Oil as well as other groups such as Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and Fossil Free London at its sites.
The injunctions were initially granted as “persons unknown”, meaning they applied to anyone who undertook protest activity at the named locations. However, earlier this year, Shell obtained a Third Party Disclosure order against the Metropolitan Police, which ordered the police to provide details about arrests of people in connection with protests at two petrol stations on August 26, 2022. This led to a total of 29 people being threatened with having their names added to the injunctions. Fifteen of the 29 have subsequently signed undertakings not to protest at the named locations and have therefore not been named. However, 13 Just Stop Oil supporters are refusing to sign.
The hearing has now concluded, with judgement to be given at a later date.
Meanwhile, a new YouGov survey has found that most Britons believe the Just Stop Oil protesters who threw soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting deserved to be jailed. And 36% of those surveyed said the term – between 20 months and two years – was not harsh enough.
