Just Stop Oil stages “wide awake” demo outside Rishi Sunak’s house as COP28 begins

Police have arrested 16 Just Stop Oil protesters after the group staged a “wide awake” demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s London home ahead of the COP28 summit in Dubai.

The climate activists gathered outside Rishi Sunak’s residence on Wednesday evening banging pots and pans calling for a halt on fossil fuel exploration in the UK.

Protesters carried placards reading "COP Failure=Crop Failure", "No rest for the Wicked" and "Arrest the Real Criminals".

They were joined by musician Louise Harris who played her protest song We Tried – which has previously reached number one in the iTunes singles chart.

Just Stop Oil said that police attended and detained the protesters at the scene.

In a statement the group said: "There should be no rest for the wicked. Rishi Sunak has already abandoned the promises he made to his own children on climate - he should have listened to them. 

“New oil and gas is a sealed death warrant for the young and those who have done the least to contribute to this crisis. It's disgraceful that an unelected Prime Minister should throw our futures away to squeeze out more profit for his fossil fuel lobbyist cronies. 

“Any politician who has the slightest desire to represent the interests of the British people would immediately ban all new licences for oil and gas in the UK."

Community worker Pia Bastide, 29, said: “People with flooded homes can’t sleep. Children dying from starvation can’t sleep. Communities staring down wildfires can’t sleep. So why should climate criminals like Rishi Sunak get a peaceful night’s sleep?”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We have arrested 16 Just Stop Oil activists following a protest in Kensington this evening.

“They have been taken to a number of central London police stations where they remain in custody.

“Enquiries are ongoing.”

On Thursday morning (November 30) world leaders arrived in Dubai for the COP28 climate change summit.

The two week summit will be attended by King Charles III and Rishi Sunak will be there, along with dozens of other world leaders and some 70,000 other attendees.

It is hoped COP28 will help keep alive the Paris agreement goal of limiting long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C.

The climate conference will also focus on fast-tracking the move to clean energy sources, to "slash" greenhouse gas emissions before 2030, delivering money for climate action from richer to poorer countries, and working on a new deal for developing nations.

There is controversy over COP28 being hosted by the United Arab Emirates as it is one of the world's top oil-producing nations, with oil boss Sultan al-Jaber overseeing the summit.