Just Stop Oil activist tried to ‘chase down’ hero Brit earlier than confrontation

A London commuter has claimed he was “chased down” by a “beyond insistent” Just Stop Oil eco-fanatic this morning as he tried to go to work, in a “confrontational” stand-off captured by the town employee on his cellphone.

Julian Lavin was trailed by a bearded Just Stop Oil activist, who was a part of a 20-strong band of protesters blocking the busy Highbury Corner junction in North London this morning.

Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mr Lavin, who’s in his mid-fifties, defined how the altercation unfolded after the orange-vested local weather warriors held up the site visitors: “I had to get off the bus and walk round them. They were blocking the pavement as well, handing out kind of like leaflets so I kind of had an exchange with one of them and then another kind of joined in.

“We had quite a detailed backwards and forwards and then I kind of walked off and he chased me down.”

The Highbury resident continued: “When he chased me down I thought ‘right ok let’s see what it’s all about’ so that’s when I got the phone out and decided to proposition him.

“He was beyond insistent, it was kind of like something that I had to turn round and confront him [about].”

The proposition that Mr Lavin put to the long-haired environmentalist was that he would arrange a crowdfunding marketing campaign to finance one-way tickets for Just Stop Oil activists to go to China – the world’s largest polluter – in order that they may protest in opposition to fossil gasoline emissions there.

The metropolis employee mentioned to the activist within the video of the incident: “I’m going to start a crowdfunder for single one-way tickets to China to fly you guys out there, because you ain’t coming back, but the protest you would do would be so powerful, so impactful. You’d make such a difference.”

Earlier within the video, the unnamed sustainability zealot tried to inform Mr Lavin, after he blocked his commute and that of many others, that the local weather disaster was a “we” downside and that he must also go to China.

Mr Lavin, understandably incredulous on the protester, responded: “No I’m not part of it, you’re the protester – you go there!”

The incident runs in distinction to Just Stop Oil’s coverage of “non-violence”; each activist needs to be educated how one can keep away from violence in any respect prices.

Speaking after the incident, Mr Lavin defined that he believed that local weather change was an essential difficulty and one which wanted tackling. But he thought Just Stop Oil’s demonstrators have been self-serving, selfish and disinterested in doing one thing that might make a critical impression.

He mentioned: “I understand that there’s an issue there, 100 percent, but I just think that their method of protesting is just puerile.

“Really all they’re doing is they’re just using the protest as some sort of internal affirmation of themselves.

“The only impact they’re making is at the dinner parties that they throw for each other where they can regale people with tales but it’s made zero impact… on climate change.”

He known as on the activists to place their cash the place their mouth is and confront the planet’s most prolific polluters.

He mentioned: “I just thought if you really want to make an impact, do something that’s going to attract a lot of media attention and be really impactful and f*** off to China.

“And then if somebody actually says ‘yes ok’ then one hundred percent we can get enough funds together to get a ticket for them to go out there. What would really impress me is if they actually did that.

“That’s standing up for something you believe [in], but slowing a traffic jam on a Tuesday morning in Islington just isn’t doing it.”

He vowed to kickstart a crowdfunder to finance the tickets to China and mentioned it was within the pursuits of the activists to take him up on his marketing campaign.

“If it can happen, and I do want to do this [set up a crowdfunding campaign], what it will do is it will drive publicity for them so it’s a good thing for them if they engage with me.”