“NONE of us want to cause ordinary people disruption.”
Those were the words of Just Stop Oil protester Victoria Lindsell after being found not guilty of obstructing the highway during a march in Parliament Square in London last October.
The 68 year-old English teacher, who was one of the five found not guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court, had previously been arrested in April 2023 for jumping over the barrier of the Dippy the Dinosaur exhibit at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry.
Victoria and a fellow protester revealed their Just Stop Oil t-shirts before being restrained by security guards. Police then arrived and arrested them.
They were charged with having an article – namely dry paint – with intent to destroy or damage property.
But when they appeared at Warwick Crown Court last October for a pre-trial hearing they were told the case had been dropped because the prosecution had not provided any evidence.
Victoria said: “None of us want to cause ordinary people disruption, but we are utterly desperate to get the government to act and to get others to do the same. They must stop issuing new licences for oil, gas and coal.
“We need to dramatically speed up transitioning to renewables and reduce our energy consumption. As we have seen with our recent floods, weather conditions are becoming more extreme, and our CO2 emissions are still rising – this is madness.”
