Saturday 1 October 2022 02:06 PM 'Thousands' of Just Stop Oil eco-warriors (including Piers Corbyn) start ... trends now
'Thousands' of eco-warriors have begun marching through central London in a bid to bring the capital to a standstill today.
Eco-zealots Just Stop Oil vowed to 'occupy Westminster' as part of a nationwide demonstration targeting more than 50 cities, towns and villages across the country.
The group said on Twitter that 'thousands of ordinary people' were set march on central London to demand 'an emergency response to the climate and cost-of-living crisis.'
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among the crowds as his Peace and Justice Project group joined the action as part of the 'Enough is Enough' campaign.
His conspiracy theorist brother Piers - who has mounted counter protests at similar events in the past, claiming global warming is a 'myth' - was also spotted in London in his now infamous yellow t-shirt.
Other groups including Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Insulate Britain are also said to be taking part.
Just Stop Oil previously said it is hoping for 1,500 of its volunteers to get arrested twice during the protests, which will see demonstrators blocking bridges over the Thames in London.
Eco-zealots Just Stop Oil vowed to 'occupy Westminster' as part of a nationwide demonstration targeting more than 50 cities, towns and villages across the country. (Pictured: Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in central London on Saturday)
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among the crowds as his Peace and Justice Project group joined the action as part of the 'Enough is Enough' campaign
Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London on October 1, 2022
The demo began at around 11am when volunteers assembled at 25 starting points across London including Waterloo, Paddington and Euston stations
A group of protesters sit on a step in central London holding up signs reading: 'Sit for climate'
The demo began at around 11am when volunteers assembled at 25 starting points across London including Waterloo, Paddington and Euston stations.
The groups planned to converge at Westminster to 'demand an end to the economic and moral madness of continued oil and gas expansion'.
Just Stop Oil's found Roger Hallam was revealed by The Mail on Sunday to have said that Metropolitan Police would be 'too scared' to arrest activists at first but that it would be forced to do so as the protests escalate.
He said the group was aiming to identify and recruit 1,500 people prepared to get arrested twice in London during the campaign.
Another activist, a former businessman in his late 40s, told a meeting in Norwich earlier this month: 'We've talked to people in the judicial system and they reckon the system couldn't really cope with about 3,000 arrests.'
The group began its project on April 1 and since then has seen 1,296 arrests as the protestors demanded the government end new oil and gas projects in the UK.
Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Coronation Street's Hayley Cropper, will be speaking at the Manchester rally alongside Lamin Touray, who played footballer Ashley Hardcastle on the street.
Just Stop Oil is hoping for 1,500 of its volunteers to get arrested twice during the protests, which will see demonstrators blocking bridges over the Thames in London. Pictured: Jeremy Corbyn at a Just Stop Oil march
Newcastle's event has been backed by Si King, one half of the Hairy
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