Thousands of eco-warriors are vowing to blockade Parliament for weeks unless a halt is called to new oil and gas projects.
Protesters from across the nation will descend on Westminster for a series of demos to kick off on October 1.
Campaigning group Just Stop Oil claims it will be Britain’s biggest ever campaign of civil disobedience.
Plans were revealed at a meeting last week attended by 500 people including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and TV presenter Chris Packham.
Organiser Emma Smart told supporters: “Thousands of people will be blockading Westminster every single day until we get a government response.
“We will block week after week, for as long as it takes.
“Nothing is going to change until thousands engage in civil disobedience.
“We need to mobilise people for the big march and the start of mass continued civil disobedience at Westminster – the centre of power, the centre of failure.
“This is going to be the biggest civil disobedience campaign in UK history.”
Ahead of the protests, which could result in mass arrests and cost millions of pounds, the group is recruiting members and holding weekly talks and “non-violent training sessions”.
So far, it claims to have raised over £500,000 and recruited 1,000 people for the Westminster protest.
Ms Smart, 44, an ecologist from Weymouth, Dorset, who recently spent two weeks in jail after a protest, added: “If you’re on the fence, now is the time to get off and act.
“Thousands are getting arrested. More than 50 people have been put in prison for acting on the obscene injustice we are presented with.
“Our job is to act in a way that forces this genocidal government to cut carbon emissions now.”
Another activist, Indigo Rumbelow, 28, told the Sunday People she had already been arrested six times for protests, received a 40-day suspended prison sentence and was willing to go to jail.
Indigo, from Swansea, said: “There are going to be thousands of people meeting at different points on the edges of London. We’re going to march to Westminster to take our message to the heart of power.”
The blockade will start on the same day thousands have vowed to stop paying energy bills until they are reduced “to an affordable level”.
Ms Rumbelow added: “We’ve chosen October 1 because it’s around the time the Government are going to increase the energy price cap, so that’s going to push millions more into fuel poverty.
“And it’s the same time they’re going to be licensing new oil projects.
“There are 40 oil projects that are under consultation by the government and we understand they’re not going to be declining them, but fast-tracking them.
“We’ve got people not being able to pay their bills at the same time the Government are basically issuing a death sentence for millions of people around the world and for future generations.”
Mr Corbyn told activists: “Pretty well every energy company has announced record profits as energy bills are going up. You cannot stop climate change without system change.
“That means you have to change an economy based on the endless exploitation of natural resources and endless profiteering.”
Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups trying to force the Government to end all new licences for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels.
Its tactics are similar to those of Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, whose members caused chaos by gluing themselves to roads and vehicles.
In the two years since 2019, policing XR protests alone cost more than £50million. Just Stop Oil’s latest plans have been blasted by Tony Devenish, a Tory London Assembly member.
Mr Devenish said: “While campaigners have the right to campaign, they do not have the right to stop people getting around London, nor our economy running.
“People are sick of XR and their pathetic student union privileged brat behaviour.
“I’m confident the next PM and new Met Police Commissioner will crack down on these people.”
Kate Gibbs, of the Road Haulage Association, also rapped the plans.
She said: “Road freight makes up the largest proportion of domestic freight moved in the UK. That includes food, drink, clothing, building materials and the white goods that protesters have in their homes.
“All rely on trucks to move them, ultimately to homes, workplaces, schools, hospitals and more.
“They don’t understand just how massive the big picture actually is.”
Just Stop Oil has already carried out high-profile protests on motorways and refineries.
Protesters have also glued themselves to paintings in art galleries and one man tried to fix himself to a goalpost during the Euro women’s quarter final between England and Spain in Brighton.
Activist Zoe Cohen said: “We’ve just seen 40C degrees in the UK for the first time in history, and at the same time millions more people are being made poorer, hungrier and more desperate than ever – all caused by the same growth obsessed, fossil fuel addicted, billionaire benefitting system, enabled by our Government.
“This is the same Government that is planning 40 new fossil fuel projects by 2025. We must come together and stop them. We have no choice.”
A government spokesman said: “We will not bend to the will of activists who naively want to extinguish North Sea oil and gas.
“Doing so would put energy security and jobs at risk, and simply increase foreign imports, while not reducing demand.
“We are committed to a strong North Sea industry as we transition from fossil fuels over coming decades, and our British Energy Security Strategy sets out a plan to ramp up renewables and nuclear energy.”
Meet the activists
Emma Smart
Emma Smart, 44, is an ecologist who worked in wildlife conservation for over 15 years, during which time she discovered a new species of Arabian freshwater fish.
She became an Extinction Rebellion activist four years ago and recently spent two months in prison after being jailed for an Insulate Britain protest.
During one stay in custody she went on hunger strike to protest against the conditions in which she was being held and was taken from her cell to hospital in an ambulance.
She took part in high-profile protests with Insulate Britain and was one of a group of 25 scientists who protested at the BEIS building in Westminster in April.
She claims people only have two options in the fight against the climate crisis - “resistance or death”.
Louis McKechnie
Louis McKechnie, 21, of Weymouth, is a Bournemouth University graduate who has been described as a John Lennon lookalike and Just Stop Oil’s posterboy.
He was remanded in custody last month, when he said: “I was brought up to believe there was a future ahead of me, that’s all I want.
“We’re all going to suffer and die unless we stop burning fossil fuels.
“Threatening us with prison and fines isn’t going to stop us demanding a liveable future.
“I will continue to speak the truth while politicians continue to lie to us saying we need oil and gas to survive, and ordinary people are driven into abject poverty and misery.
“Enough is enough. I will stop when the government stops new oil and gas.”
His activism began with Extinction Rebellion in 2020 before he joined vegan group Animal Rebellion.
He has already been arrested 20 times and served half of a three-month term in jail for blocking the M25.
He also tied himself to a goalpost during a match between Everton and Newcastle and was among protestors who stormed the track at Silverstone during this year’s F1 British Grand Prix.
Roger Hallam
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam, 55, has been holding Just Stop Oil talks, including one in Lancaster on Wednesday night.
He has been described as “an adviser”.
He researched the history of civil disobedience for a PhD at King’s College London and before co-founding Extinction Rebellion, which launched a new chapter in climate activism, based on civil disobedience and mass arrests, in 2018.
Liam Norton
Liam Norton, 37, joined Extinction Rebellion in 2018 and later became prominent within the Insulate Britain movement before joining Just Stop Oil.
He previously clashed with Good Morning Britain presenters Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid after being challenged about Insulate Britain’s motorway protests and claims he is a hypocrite for living in an uninsulated property.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, Jeremy Corbyn praised him, saying: “Liam, you remind me of the late great Harry Munday of Australia who was a building worker who did so much to try and change the nature of the building industry and create relevant strategies in Australia and he’s someone I think we should venerate as a great pioneer of environmental campaigning.”
