Just Stop Oil and London Pride clashed over the weekend, as members of the environmentalist group stationed themselves in front of a pride float, chanting: “Just stop oil!”
The Post Millennial Senior Editor Andy Ngo tweeted a video of the incident, saying: “#LondonPride was shut down for a time as radical environmentalist group Just Stop Oil made good on their promise to disrupt the event. Just Stop Oil had demanded London Pride disclose their corporate financing & to commit to the anti-fossil fuel cause.”
As a result, several Just Stop Oil activists were arrested during the incident.
The development came after Just Stop Oil had threatened to “take action” during London Pride if the group did not disclose financial details, including where Pride sources its money from, what floats were included in the parade, and what “ethical considerations” were taken when deciding who to take money from, per The Telegraph.
Just Stop Oil also demanded Pride take deliberate action in condemning calls for new oil and gas. The letter was issued on Thursday, and it concluded: “We will wait 24 hours, as of 4 pm today (28/06), for Pride to respond to our demands and the actions Pride will take.”
“Beyond this time or not meeting these demands will mean we may or may not take action at this weekend’s events.”
London Pride’s primary sponsor is United Airlines. They are also sponsored by Transport for London (TfL), Netflix, and even Coca Cola.
In a second statement released on Friday, Just Stop Oil also demanded Pride put an end to accepting sponsorships from “high polluting industries.”
It said: “Pride was born from protest. It speaks to how far we’ve come as a community, that high polluting industries and the banks that fund them, now see Pride as a useful vehicle for sanitising their reputations, waving rainbow flags in one hand whilst accelerating social collapse with the other.”
“We are calling on London Pride to make a statement condemning new oil, gas and coal. We also demand that they cease accepting sponsorship money from high polluting industries and stop allowing the inclusion of floats from these organisations in the parade.”
“These partnerships embarrass the LGBTQ+ community, at a time when much of the cultural world is rejecting ties to these toxic industries.”
