Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 9. Crackdown

Just Stop Oil is “hanging up the hi vis” after three years of throwing soup at paintings, interrupting theatre performances, and blocking roads. It’s 2025. They’ve been racking up arrests - and opponents - and now, the UK government has passed a string of new laws cracking down on disruptive protest.

They say they’ve achieved their aims - a ban on new oil and gas licenses - but were they policed to extinction? With their hardcore campaigning for the climate, did these activists prompt a change in law that made all green activism harder?

Presenter: Justin Rowlatt Producer: Alix Pickles Series Producer: Ellie House Editor: Matt Willis Sound Design and Mix: James Beard Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

Archive: ‘Just Stop Oil is Hanging up the Hi Vis’, Just Stop Oil, 27/3/2025 Just Stop Oil Louise M25 protest, Just Stop Oil, 7/11/2022 Lord Deben on Just Stop Oil, ITV Robert Peston, 5/7/2023 Rupert Read talking about The Climate Majority Project, Some Dare Call It Conspiracy podcast, 24/4/2024