Just Stop Oil eco-zealots are competing to see who can get arrested the most times in a bid to win prizes, it has been claimed.
Members of the pressure group, which campaigns for the Government to end all new oil, gas and coal licences, are said to be attempting to overload the legal system as protesters plan weeks of chaos.
Just yesterday, five of its activists were booed and jeered as they hijacked a performance of Les Misérables by clambering onto the stage at London‘s Sondheim Theatre before holding up their orange banner.
After being arrested last night Hannah Taylor, 23, Lydia Gribbin, 28, Hanan Ameur, 22, Noah Crane, 18, and Poppy Bliss, 19, were charged today with aggravated trespass. They have been released on bail and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on November 3.
Just yesterday, five JSO activists were booed and jeered as they hijacked a performance of Les Misérables
The group said in a statement that members were ‘locked to the stage’. Five people have now been charged with aggravated trespass
It has now emerged that Just Stop Oil members have been discussing the best ways to get arrested as many times as possible.
A JSO source told The Sun: ‘It’s essentially a competition to see who can get arrested the most. There will likely be prizes for the winner — that sort of thing has happened at previous gatherings after a round of action.’
The newspaper found one eco-zealot discussing a planned demonstration on October 29. They said they would be going to marches with ‘other regions’, adding: ‘This will allow me to spread the average three arrests per person easily over three weeks instead of trying to be a superhuman and pull it off in a single week.’
Reports of eco-zealots competing for arrests come in a week where they disrupted yet another event that hard-working Brits paid up to £200 per ticket for. The Les Mis performance at the Sondheim Theatre was brought to a halt at around 9pm on Wednesday.
Police said they are keen to hear from audience members who may have travelled from outside London to see the show.
In footage shared of the musical being hijacked, the protesters climbed up to the stage and asked the audience to ‘join the rebellion.’
But one furious theatre-goer shouted: ‘Get off you stupid people. How dare you.’
Another yelled: ‘You naughty people, you naughty people.’
Just Stop Oil said two of the protesters were called Hanan (left) – a 22-year-old student – and Noah, 18 (right). Both have been charged
As others booed and jeered the eco protesters, a man near the front snatched away one of the eco-protesters’ banners.
The stage invasion occured during the musical’s famous protest song of Do You Hear the People Sing? which is often seen as a call to action and has been used all over the world in rebellions including the 2019 Jong Kong demonstrations.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, about Les Mis protagonist Jean Valjean, Just Stop Oil said: ‘Valjean steals bread to feed a starving child. How long before we are all forced to steal?’
The post continued: ‘The fossil fuel show can’t go on.’
The Mail also revealed on Thursday that Oxford University‘s student union invited Just Stop Oil to host a stall at this year’s freshers’ fair.
Daniel Knorr, 21, who stormed Lord’s cricket ground during the second Ashes test match this summer, was pictured manning the stand and recruiting students to join the radical eco-protest group.
He also posted 17,000 JSO leaflets to Oxford students via their college cubby holes earlier this week.
It comes despite Education Secretary Gillian Keegan warning last month that students risk ruining their futures if they participate in slow-march protests organised by JSO.
Just Stop Oil told MailOnline after storming the Les Mis musical: ‘This summer has shown us the sheer power of a supercharged climate.
‘Scientists are freaking out and even the Pope is sounding the alarm. But, like the citizens of Paris in 1832, we have locked our doors, while our young face slaughter on the streets.
‘They will inherit a scorched earth, unfit to live in and we will be long gone. We cannot let this stand. The show cannot go on.’
The group has been contacted for comment about competing for arrests.