'Would I have stood up for Anne Frank?' Just Stop Oil activist compares group's protests to WWII Resistance

27 April 2025, 16:43

Just Stop Oil spokesperson speaks to Ali Miraj

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson has compared her group's protests to members of the Resistance in the Second World War.

Gill Tavner told LBC's Ali Miraj that the 180 members of her radical environmental group who had been jailed for their protests were sent to prison for "voicing the truth".

She was speaking after the serially disruptive group held what they said would be their last rally in London on Saturday afternoon - claiming they had achieved their key aim.

Reflecting on the jail sentences handed to many of her group's members, Ms Tavner said: "I've often wondered things like, would I have been in the Resistance?

"What would I have done when people were looking for Anne Frank and arrested? Would I have stood up?

"And a little bit me hopes now... maybe I do have the courage to do that sort of thing."

Ms Tavner also insisted that she didn't want to make herself a "hero".

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAS) said such comparisons were "totally inappropriate and insulting".

In response to a similar comparison made by the group in 2022, CAS said: "By resorting to degrading the memory of a Jewish girl murdered as part of the worst atrocity in human history, Just Stop Oil only weakens its case and whatever remains of its credibility."

Ms Tavner also appeared to compare Just Stop Oil to jailed dissidents in Belarus, referencing comments made by dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who said that "prison is for those who open their mouths too wide".

She added: "We are going to prison not because we've held people up. They didn't put the farmers in prison for holding people up.

"We are in prison because we're opening our mouths too wide. And we are voicing the truth and we are voicing a challenge to those who really don't know."

Just Stop Oil's purported final protest on Saturday was held after the group announced it would stop direct action and announced it had won its demand to end new oil and gas.

JSO has drawn attention, criticism and jail terms for protests ranging from throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers and spray painting Charles Darwin's grave to climbing on gantries over the M25.

In its March statement announcing the end of direct action, it said: "Just Stop Oil's initial demand to end new oil and gas is now Government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history.

"We've kept over 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the ground and the courts have ruled new oil and gas licences unlawful."

The Labour Government has said it will not issue licences for new oil and gas exploration, while a series of recent court cases have halted fossil fuel projects including oil drilling in Surrey, a coal mine in Cumbria and the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea over climate pollution.

But Labour has distanced itself from Just Stop Oil, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer criticising its actions and saying protesters must face the full force of the law.