Just Stop Oil zealots vow to continue causing misery

The eco-zealots have briefed members to rest over Christmas, before urging them to be ready for action in the new year.

They are aiming for 1,000 members to be in jail in the coming year, a huge rise on the estimated 200 locked up since April 2022.

They are also targeting 10,000 arrests across the year, also a big increase on 2023.

Targets will include major sporting events, West End productions and London’s transport network.

Slow marches across the capital and other busy cities are also expected. Details were discussed on a call to members and potential recruits – and in online chats infiltrated by an undercover reporter.

One leader said: “This year has been amazing. You should be very proud of what each of you achieved.

“We are chan-ging the course of history. We will be remembered for this action.”

“But now’s the time to go bigger and bolder than before. We want 10,000 arrests and 1,000 in jail.

“Ambitious targets, yes, but they are doable if we believe and work together as bees.

“It’s going to be a much bigger and more disruptive 2024.”

A series of 2023’s “highlights”, which the Met said cost £20million to police, were also shared and discussed.

They included the disrupted performance of Les Miserables in London’s West End, the blocking of Whitehall, pictured, and numerous acts of vandalism at universities across the country.

This year’s Wimbledon and the Snooker World Championships were also affected by activists who ran in front of TV cameras and threw orange powder.

One source said: “Members were told to take in what was achieved and it included some of the most disruptive action. It was dangled like a carrot to inspire other situations.”

But Tory MP Nigel Mills said: “Hopefully 2024 can be the year Just Stop Oil’s childish and pathetic behaviour can stop once and for all.

“It looks like the police have got tougher in the last few months and I only hope that increases.”