“Policing is NOT a matter of conscience,” declared a senior policing expert on GB News. “We cannot expect the police to act on a moral basis” said the programme’s presenter. These astonishing admissions came during a debate about Just Stop Oil’s non-violent climate protection actions, following their recent announcement that they are ‘hanging up their high-vis’.
Watch the GB News Breakfast segment here
CMC founder Donnachadh McCarthy directly challenged these statements on air, asking whether it wasn’t, in fact, the fundamental duty of the police in any civil society to protect the public from harm—highlighting that the greatest threat facing us today is climate breakdown driven by fossil fuel corporations. This careful pivot in the debate meant a shift from questioning the morality of climate protesters to examining the morality of police who suppress activists attempting to avert climate genocide.
Donnachadh further questioned the policing expert on whether he considered fossil fuel company scientists “cretins” for accurately warning since the 1970s about the catastrophic damage fossil fuels would inflict on agriculture, public health, and global stability.
Just Stop Oil’s iconic campaigns, including spraying harmless orange dust on a snooker table and Stonehenge, succeeded in securing global attention for their essential demand: an immediate end to all new fossil fuel investments. This demand aligns precisely with the International Energy Agency’s unequivocal stance that no new fossil fuel developments can occur if we are to achieve a successful green transition by 2050.
CMC supports using the positive and proactive term “green transition,” as opposed to “net zero,” which has increasingly been weaponised by the oil lobby to undermine vital climate action.
The revelation that policing climate activism should exclude moral considerations is profoundly troubling and evokes disturbing historical parallels. It’s vital for global media leaders to confront this moral vacuum head-on, challenging the criminalisation of activists and highlighting the true criminals—the fossil fuel corporations wreaking climate havoc.
Instead, media institutions must hold governments and police accountable, demanding they focus resources on halting fossil fuel corporations’ destructive actions, not persecuting those raising the alarm.
CMC commend Just Stop Oil’s courageous and principled actions; they are true heroes of climate justice whose legacy must continue to inspire meaningful climate action.
April 2025
