PROTESTERS declared that “there is no climate justice without human rights” as thousands marched through London on Saturday.
More than 60 organisations including Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, gathered to demand that the government end its reliance on fossil fuels and its complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The route began outside the British Museum, which has a £50 million sponsorship deal with oil giant BP, which was recently granted gas exploration licences in occupied Palestinian waters.
The march then headed to the London officers of Socar, the state oil firm of Cop29 host Azerbaijan, whose chief was secretly filmed promoting fossil fuel deals.
The group unfurled a large banner saying: “BP Socar stop fuelling genocide.”
Socar and BP co-own the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which supplies nearly 30 per cent of Israel’s oil, and fuels military arsenal used in genocidal attacks in Gaza.
Tyrone Scott, from War on Want, said: “Right now, millions of people are facing the worst effects of climate breakdown, predominantly in countries across the global South.
“At the same time, these same fossil fuel companies that are profiting from extracting and polluting — driving climate breakdown — are also profiting from funnelling oil to Israel; oil that Israel is then using in its genocide of the Palestinian people.
“We must end our reliance on fossil fuels, ensure the UK pays its fair share in finance and demand an end to the genocide.
“There is no climate justice without human rights.”
Joanna Warrington, Fossil Free London campaigner, said: “We are marching today to demand that the UK government breaks free from the grip of mega polluters, stands up to their relentless greed, and stops enabling the violence and destruction they profit from.
“Another world is not just possible — it’s essential, and it starts with holding fossil fuel corporations accountable.”
Some 25 other actions were organised across Britain and Ireland as part of Global Day of Action for Climate Justice.
That same day, activists from Youth Demand disrupted traffic in London, Manchester, Exeter, Leeds and Cambridge, demanding an arms embargo on Israel and an end to fossil-fuel licences granted since 2021.
Three activists in Leeds were handed notices by the police that barred them from the city, with exemption of their homes and immediate surrounding area.
