Just Stop Oil protesters brought Upper Street to a halt on Saturday

A CLIMATE change activist arrested for stopping traffic this weekend has condemned the leader of the Labour Party after he backed harsher sentences for protesters.

Flo, a Just Stop Oil campaigner who helped blocked Upper Street on Saturday, said Sir Keir Starmer should feel “embarrassed” by his comments.

The NHS child psychotherapist said non-violent protests were the best way of raising awareness about the climate crisis.

She told the Tribune: “It’s absolutely terrifying, disappointing at one end, but really, really scary at the other. We’re moving towards a police state and the idea that the leader of the opposition might take us in that direction just leaves us with nowhere to turn.

“If people like me who do this with the best of intentions end up in prison because the leader of the Labour Party says we should, I despair.”

She added: “We’re often seen as this fringe, leftist conspiracy organisation. The irony is that we’re on the side of scientific consensus and the government is not.

“Politicians are not experts in any particular area.”

Flo said she felt “a duty of care to the children I work with” to fight for change, adding: “The climate crisis is not some hypothetical event, and the government is wilfully fuelling the fire.”

She was among around 20 protesters in Upper Street on Saturday in what was a string of similar attention-grabbing actions across the capital that included tomato soup being thrown at a Van Gogh painting in the National Gallery.

“I was locked on in a tube with someone,” said Flo. “A lock on is a very thick, steel tube that we put our arms into and attach our arms together inside. The police have to saw it off, so it delays the whole thing.”

Sir Keir said the Just Stop Oil action is “wrong” and pledged to continue government plans to crackdown on protesters who block roads in an interview with LBC this week.

“I particularly think about the images we’ve seen of ambulances coming down the road, not being able to get through because people have glued themselves to the road,” Mr Starmer said.

“I think it’s arrogant of those gluing themselves to the road to think they’re the only people that have got the answer to this. They haven’t got the answer.”

Flo, who joined Just Stop Oil last year, said protesters always glued themselves strategically during roadblocks to ensure they are able to free up one lane to allow the passage of emergency vehicles, adding: “We have a blue light policy in general, so we always let emergency services through.

“At the Islington demonstration we let a fire truck through.

“Our intention is not to harm people, we just want to disrupt.”

The Met Police said: “Police have arrested 17 protesters for wilful obstruction of the highway. They have been taken into custody at a central London police station.”