Just Stop Oil: Climate protestors spray Knightsbridge Rolex shop with orange paint

Eco-activists with Just Stop Oil have sprayed a high-end jewellery and watch shop with orange paint in another day of climate protests in London.

Demonstrators showered the Rolex shop in Knightsbridge, Chelsea, with the neon substance from a fire extinguisher at 8.30am this morning (Friday, October 28).

The Met Police said two people had been arrested and were in custody.

Supporters of the environmental cause are demanding the government puts an immediate halt to all issuing any new licences to extract oil and gas, in light of the climate crisis.

Their latest bout of activity - which has seen protestors block roads, smear artworks with paint and invade the Houses of Parliament - comes just a day after Britain’s latest prime minister Rishi Sunak said he would not attend COP27, the annual global climate summit.

Activist and former deputy headteacher Adrian Johnson, 56, said: “The science is clear.

“The breakdown of the climate is here and it is due to the extraction and use of fossil fuels.

“Any new fossil fuel projects will cause irreparable damage to the climate. This may have already happened.

“And yet, this is the path our government is following by granting over 100 new oil and gas licences. It makes no sense and it’s reckless beyond belief.”

Mr Johnson, from Perthshire, added: “That’s why I have decided to take action. I can no longer sit back and ignore it.”

And 26-year-old Jennifer Kowalski added: “There’s no point in having million dollar cars when they’re destined to be washed away in floods. And this is already happening.

“Climate change is happening now. An energy crisis is happening now. People around the world are starving, suffering and dying so an elite can spend vast fortunes on vanity items.”

The environmental scientist, from Glasgow, added: “When are we going to stop allowing ourselves to be made poorer and our futures cut shorter?

“We do this because we want to protect the things and the people we care about. I’m not willing to stand by as the refusal to improve life for people causes my loved ones to suffer.”

Just Stop Oil organisers have said the group will continue their action and “peacefully resist” the government’s plan to licence more than 100 new oil and gas projects by 2025.

The group says 600 demonstrators have been arrested during three weeks of continuous civil resistance, with 1,900 arrests made since April and seven activists currently in prison.

A spokesperson said: “This is not a one day event, expect us every day and anywhere. This is an act of resistance against a criminal government and their genocidal death project.

“Our supporters will be returning – today, tomorrow and the next day – and the next day after that – and every day until our demand is met: no new oil and gas in the UK.

“We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence peaceful people.

“Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities.”

A Met Police spokesperson said: “At 8.43am today, two Just Stop Oil protesters sprayed the outside of a jewellery shop in Knightsbridge with paint.

“Met Police were quickly on scene and arrested them on suspicion of criminal damage. Both have been taken into custody at a central London police station.”

Rolex UK has been contacted for comment.