Oil protester ‘on hunger strike’ in jail
A SWANSEA resident arrested for involvement in the Just Stop Oil protests on the M25 motorway last week is said to have decided to go on “hunger strike” to show commitment to the cause.
Campaign group Just Stop Oil said Tez Burnes, 34, had been remanded to HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.
On arrival to prison, Tez, who uses they/them pronouns, “started an immediate hunger strike” which had resulted in “rapid weight loss and low blood sugar levels” and had led to Tez being monitored in a hospital wing of the prison and given medical treatment, the group claimed.
According to Just Stop Oil, the protest, which caused widespread disruption and miles of congestion, was “the biggest act of civil resistance undertaken in the UK in a generation” and resulted in 65 people being arrested.
The group claimed 31 of these had been remanded in prison.
A statement issued by Just Stop Oil quotes Tez, said to be speaking from prison, as saying: “I am not prepared to stand by and watch while everything I love is destroyed, while ordinary people go hungry and fossil fuel companies and the rich profit from our misery.
“I have put my body on the line by taking action with Just Stop Oil and I accept the consequences. I am not expecting pity and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to get the government to change course, because new oil and gas is a death sentence and I have no future.
“The government is guilty of criminal inaction on the climate crisis. They want to issue new fossil fuel licences and drain every last drop of oil from the North Sea.
“That goes against everything that internationally respected bodies like the UN, IPCC and World Bank are telling us. I don’t want to do this, but I feel it’s my duty as a citizen of the UK, when our government is criminal. I’m furious and I’m devastated.”
Last week’s protest followed six weeks of disruption and “civil resistance” by supporters of the Just Stop Oil campaign.
At the last count, the police had arrested more than 650 people involved in the campaign since October 1.
And it’s understood hundreds more were arrested earlier in the year for their participation too.
A spokesperson from Just Stop Oil added: “These actions are part of an ongoing act of resistance against a criminal government and their genocidal death project.
“We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence nonviolent people.
“Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities. Stand with our supporters in prison, with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives.”
The Echo contacted the Home Office in relation to the claims made by Just Stop Oil. A spokesperson said it did not comment on individual cases.
That said, the Home Office did supply a more general statement in response to allegations made by Just Stop Oil.
A spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary has been clear that we need to do more to protect the rights of the lawabiding majority to go about their business.”