Just Stop Oil activists protest in London against high energy bills

By Matt Bernardini

Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Just Stop Oil protestors continued their demonstrations on Saturday, tucking themselves into bed displays at Harrods in London to protest Britain's high energy bills.

The protestors were lying on beds and sofas with signs reading "end fuel poverty." They were joined by other grassroots activists like Don't Pay UK and Fuel Poverty Action, who all want action over the country's skyrocketing energy prices.

"This government is allowing ordinary people to starve and freeze this winter as greedy energy companies squeeze every last penny out of us," a Just Stop Oil spokesperson told The Guardian. "The health service is in crisis, workers' wages are being squeezed and nurses are using food banks. Austerity is a political choice and the cost of living crisis is an unprovoked attack on ordinary people."

Don't Pay has called on people to cancel direct debits for their energy bills in response to the "mass default" among those who cannot afford to heat their homes.

The groups are advocating for "a universal, free band of energy to cover people's necessities".

This would be paid for by "ending all public money subsidising fossil fuels, a more effective windfall tax on energy companies and higher tariffs on luxury household energy use".

"Ordinary people cannot keep footing the bill for crises created by the wealthy," Stuart Bretherton, Fuel Poverty Action coordinator, told the Guardian.

Just Stop Oil protestors have gained global attention recently for their demonstrations. In October, two activists threw soup on a Vincent Van Gogh painting in London, and then demanded action on climate change.

Later that month a climate activist glued his head to a famous painting in a Dutch museum.