Just Stop Oil activist arrested after targeting Bristol University

A student Just Stop Oil supporter has been arrested after spraying orange paint across a University of Bristol building.

Ben Meehan, a filmmaking student at UWE Bristol, carried out the action at around midday on Monday to call for academics to join an upcoming Just Stop Oil march in London.

The 21-year-old was arrested at the scene as he sprayed the glass facade of the Queen’s Building in Woodland Road using a fire extinguisher, with students and staff looking on.

Just Stop Oil activist Ben Meehan has been arrested after targeting Bristol University – photo: Just Stop Oil

Speaking ahead of the action, Meehan, who lives in Clifton, said “I’m taking action because I can’t stand by while universities continue to foster the very systems that are destroying us.

“Most people act like the world is just going to carry on, but it’s not and we haven’t got long. The very thing that gives us life is collapsing before our eyes. There is no bigger threat.

“I call on every academic to wake up to what their students will face and get out of their labs and lecture halls to join us on the streets this autumn, to call for an immediate end to all new oil and gas.”

The action comes within a week of fellow environmental group Extinction Rebellion launching a campaign for the university to cut ties with Barclays, which is among the biggest financiers of fossil fuels.

Just Stop Oil are calling on academics and university staff to join them on the streets of London in November to demand the government immediately ceases the licensing for all new oil and gas projects.

The 21-year-old sprayed then Queen’s Building with orange paint to demand academics join Just Stop Oil on a march through London – photo: Jamie Bellinger 

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “The University of Bristol plays a key role in tackling environmental change through its research, its teaching and how it operates.

“We know how important this is, not just to our staff and students, but to the whole world, which is why sustainability remains one of the central strands shaping the University’s vision of the future.

“We were the first university in the UK to declare a climate emergency in 2019, reaffirming our strong and positive commitment to take action on climate change and, a year later, in 2020 we completely divested from all investments in fossil fuel companies.

“All our partnerships undergo stringent due diligence checks and ethical review first, ensuring the University is using its expertise to influence positive change.  We continue to actively engage with our major suppliers, including banks, to see where positive improvements and changes can be made.

“We respect our staff and students’ right to raise concerns about issues they feel strongly about in a lawful way, and we will continue to listen to and engage with their views, however we ask that these are discussed with us directly and through appropriate channels.”

An Avon & Somerset Police spokesperson added: “We received a call at approximately 12.15pm today (Monday 9 October) in relation to a criminal damage incident in Bristol.

“On arrival, officers found one of the University of Bristol’s buildings, in Woodland Road, had been damaged with paint.

“One man has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.”

Main photo: Jamie Bellinger  

Read next:

• Just Stop Oil protesters slowly march through Bristol
• Inside a Just Stop Oil meeting in Bristol
• Extinction Rebellion calls for university to cut ties with bank

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