Emma Thompson backs Just Stop Oil at London march as protesters boo ‘all politicians’
Dame Emma Thompson has backed Just Stop Oil, just days after the climate action group attacked Stonehenge with orange paint.
The actress led thousands of people on a Restore Nature Now march in London on Saturday, aimed at persuading politicians to put nature and climate first.
Asked if she supported Just Stop Oil, whose supporters have also targeted private jets, the Magna Carta and the Duke of Westminster’s wedding this year, she said: “I think I support anyone who fights this extraordinary battle.”
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Dame Emma added: “We cannot take any more oil out of the ground. I mean, there’s much argument about it. And I know there’s a lot of very complicated economic arguments about it.
“We have to leave all the resources in the ground, we cannot bring them out of the ground.”
More than 350 charities, businesses and direct action groups joined Dame Emma on the protest, along with renewable energy tycoon and Labour donor, Dale Vince, and naturalists Chris Packham and Steve Backshall.
Mr Packham said it was the first time organisations across the entire spectrum of campaigning and conservation have united, from the National Trust to Just Stop Oil.
Reflecting on the long campaign to achieve action on climate change, Dame Emma called it “extraordinary”, as “we have known about this for decades and government after government have completely ignored the advice”.
“All the scientists are saying we are in deep, deep trouble,” she added.
The UK, she said, is “one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world”.
She added: “But we are also one of the most rich, so this is not good for anybody.
“Anyone who has ever written about our country [has written] about the beauty of these islands and they are being despoiled, polluted and destroyed at an unprecedented rate.
“We have to take action now. There is not enough discussion about this. It has to come to the forefront of our politics at every level.”
Protesters marched from Hyde Park to Parliament Square, staying in a line, led by Dame Emma and Mr Packham who held a banner reading Restore Nature Now.
Other banners carried different messages, including There’s No Life Without Wildlife and There Isn’t A Reset Button.
Some of the crowd booed and gestured as they walked past Downing Street.
Gary Smith, a 64-year-old ex-veteran, said: “The booing was because they’re useless in acting against any policies to do with wildlife. It’s the booing of all politicians.”
While wildlife rescuer Sally Burns, 58, said: “The state of this country… it’s politicians that run it and look at the state of it, a mess in many many ways. It’s the people in power that have caused all this.”