Just Stop Oil target MI5 HQ, Home office, the Bank of England and News Corp in orange paint protest

Environmental protestors from Just Stop Oil have sprayed orange paint on the headquarters of MI5, the Home Office, the Bank of England and News Corp in London.

At around 8:30am today Monday October 31 six Just Stop Oil supporters sprayed orange paint from fire extinguishers onto the four London buildings.

Police and security guards were filmed tackling some of the demonstrators whilst orange graffiti was also sprayed on the exteriors.

The climate change protesters are demanding that the UK government halts all new oil and gas consents and licences and have attacked London landmarks throughout October.

A statement by the group said: “The buildings were chosen to represent the four pillars that support and maintain the power of the fossil fuel economy — government, security, finance and media.

“We are not prepared to stand by and watch while everything we love is destroyed, while vulnerable people go hungry and fossil fuel companies and the rich profit from our misery.

“The era of fossil fuels should be long gone, but the creeping tentacles of fossil fuel interests continue to corrupt our politics, government and media as they have for decades.

“How else do you explain a government ignoring sensible no-brainer policies like renewables, insulation and public transport, which would cut our energy bills and our carbon emissions, in favour of corrupt schemes to drill for uneconomic oil and gas at taxpayers’ expense?

“Well, we’re done with begging. We are acting to stop new oil and gas because it is the right thing to do. As humans, we have every right to protect ourselves and those we love. The Government has the power to end the disruption today by agreeing to stop new oil and gas.”

News Corp is home to News UK which is the current publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times, and The Sun newspapers.

Since the start of the protests on October 1 activists have glued themselves to tarmac, scaled the QEII bridge between Essex and Kent and halted traffic across the capital - leading to more than 651 arrests.

The protests have divided Londoners and created a huge challenge for the Met with varied spontaneous protests occurring daily in multiple locations.

Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, Met Operations, said they are “determined to bring those who have caused chaos and disruption to justice”.

“Actions by Just Stop Oil have caused a significant amount of disruption and frustration among the public in London,” he said.

“We will always provide a proportionate policing response to protest and try to work with organisers so that protests can go ahead safely.

“Just Stop Oil do not engage with police in advance of their demonstrations, which means more resources are needed across the Met to respond, irrespective of whether significant action takes place or not. This impacts on policing resources from local communities.

“If officers were not helping the central operation to deal with Just Stop Oil they could be dealing with issues that matter to local communities, such as knife crime, safeguarding and responding to burglaries.”

In recent days Just Stop Oil have blocked busy roads in the capital with members of the public being filmed dragging protesters onto the pavement so they could continue on their journeys.

AC Twist urged the public “not to directly intervene” as this may affect a police investigation.

He said: “I completely understand the frustration and anger felt by the public who are seriously disrupted by a relatively small number of protesters and their deliberate tactics.

“They are affecting people’s businesses, their lives, whether they are on their way to a doctor, a long awaited hospital appointment, on their way to work, to interviews, or to collect children; I know communities and the public of London have had enough of a very small number of people disrupting them.”