2:22 pm, October 16, 2022
Aston Martin’s flagship dealership on Park Lane has been covered in orange paint as part of a demonstration by Just Stop Oil protesters.
The environmental group set up a road block in Mayfair this morning (Sunday) and sprayed paint over the showroom’s glass facade and signs.
Demonstrators also sat down in the road, holding large orange banners, with a number of them gluing themselves to the tarmac or locking themselves together.
The action came just hours after home secretary Suella Braverman unveiled plans to crack down on the kind of protest favoured by climate activists.
Just Stop Oil tweeted that the action was to ‘defy’ the Cabinet minister.
Footage shared by the group showed the protesters walking out into the road and sitting down, causing a chorus of honking from traffic while paint was sprayed on to the showroom.
Photos later showed police officers trying to talk to those blocking the road as a cordon was set up around the activists.
to the tarmac while others locked themselves together. Shortly afterwards, one supporter sprayed orange paint over a nearby Aston Martin car showroom on Park Lane.#JustStopOil #NoNewOil #EnoughIsEnough #OccupyWestminster pic.twitter.com/vg8IFz1z51
— Just Stop Oil ⚖️💀🛢 (@JustStop_Oil) October 16, 2022
Among those taking part in the protest was 19-year-old Chloe Thomas, a pregnant mother and freelancer from Cannock.
She said: ‘How do I explain to my daughter in the years to come where the animals went, where the culture went, where the beauty went, why there are no bees and why I can’t put food in her tummy?
‘You know it’s bad, don’t you? As citizens, as humans, as parents and children we have a responsibility and a right under British law to protect ourselves and those we love.’
Patrick Michael John McCarthy, 67, a carer from Telford, who was also at the protest, added: ‘Please understand these actions are not easy for any of us.
‘It is uncomfortable, sometimes frightening and financially draining, so why do it?
‘Because we have seen the devastating truth about the existential threats we face and cannot unsee that. The real question is why millions aren’t in civil resistance rather than why I am.’
The action comes just days after Just Stop Oil protesters threw tins of tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting in the National Gallery and sprayed paint over the rotating New Scotland Yard sign.
The campaign group said it will also be protesting outside Downing Street every day in October.
