Environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil group attacked TotalEnergies’ London headquarters on Tuesday and spray-painted them orange and black to denounce a mega-oil project by the French company in Uganda.
Just Stop Oil said in a press release that it acted “in opposition to the company’s continued involvement in human rights abuses related to the construction of the EACOP (East African Crude Oil) Pipeline”.
The organization is calling for the cessation of this colossal project, the world’s longest heated pipeline, over 1500 km, leading to the coast of Tanzania and crossing several protected areas.
This mega-project has become emblematic of TotalEnergies’ controversial decision to continue investing in fossil fuels despite the climate crisis. He has also become a media icon of the anti-oil struggle.
Twenty-six Ugandans and five French and Ugandan federations also filed a new lawsuit in France on Tuesday to demand “reparations” from TotalEnergies for what they say is the “damage” caused by this project.
According to them, tens of thousands of people in Uganda and Tanzania have been affected by total or partial dispossession as a result of this project.
For Just Stop Oil, “the project will release 379 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere, equivalent to 25 times the annual emissions of Uganda and Tanzania combined.”
At 07:00 GMT, activists from Just Stop Oil entered TotalEnergies’ headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf. They spray-painted the front desk with black paint. Others threw orange paint on the outside of the building. Everyone sat outside the company’s headquarters until police arrived, who arrested 27 of the activists on “suspicion of property damage and aggravated trespassing.”
The group Just Stop Oil, which calls for the cessation of all new oil and gas projects in the UK, is regularly involved with sharp actions.
Since the end of April he has also been organizing daily slow marches in the middle of London traffic with the aim of creating as much unrest as possible, to publicize their cause and to put pressure on the government.