By OLIVIA CHRISTIE and RHIANNON JAMES – The Daily Mail
Just Stop Oil eco-zealots sprayed orange paint over the University of Oxford’s iconic Radcliffe Camera building before targeting Exeter University library, in their latest climate stunt.
Protestors Daniel Knorr, 21, and Noah Crane, 18, used a fire extinguisher to spray Oxford’s iconic library – which dates to the 18th century – bright orange at around 12pm today.
Elsewhere, a third student George Simonson, 23, used buckets of paint and spray cans to paint the glass facade of ‘The Forum’ on the Exeter University’s campus.
Just Stop Oil has described the spray painting of the building in Oxford city centre as ‘resistance against the UK Government‘s plans to license new oil and gas projects.’
Knorr, who studies at Oxford University said before the protest: ‘I am taking action to resist the destruction of my generation.
George Simonson, 23, was videod using buckets of paint and spray cans to paint the glass facade of ‘The Forum’ on the Exeter University’s campus‘In other words, hundreds of millions of people will be forced to move, or die.
‘This is mass murder. It is genocide. It is no good to study the annihilation of everything we care about and do absolutely nothing about it, we have to act!’
In a video posted to Twitter, now X, a police officer can be seen awkwardly holding a protestor’s hand to stop him running away, as they stand in front of the garish orange paint.
Two protestors were arrested at the scene and had their orange paint seized by police.
The protest comes following reports in the Daily Mail last week that University of Oxford’s student union invited Just Stop Oil to host a stall at this year’s freshers’ fair.
Knorr was pictured manning the stand and recruiting students to join the radical eco-protest group.
He also posted 17,000 JSO leaflets to Oxford students via their college cubby holes.
The Radcliffe Camera was built between 1737 and 1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library.
Daniel Knorr (right), who studies at Oxford University said before the protest: ‘I am taking action to resist the destruction of my generation’
In a video posted to Twitter , now X, a police officer can be seen awkwardly holding a protestor’s hand to stop him running away, as they stand in front of the garish orange paint.
Its circular shape, position in the heart of Oxford and separation from other buildings makes it one of the city’s most iconic landmarks.
Just Stop Oil also targeted the glass facade of ‘The Forum’ on the Exeter University campus with orange paint at lunchtime today.
The protests in Oxford and Exeter come following the arrest of five Just Stop Activists on October 4 after they hijacked a performance of Les Miserables in London’s West End.
The crowd booed and jeered as eco-activists, holding the group’s orange banner, clambered onto the stage at the Sondheim Theatre in Shaftesbury.
One furious theatre-goer shouted: ‘Get off you stupid people. How dare you.’
Another yelled: ‘You naughty people, you naughty people.’
One man near the front of the audience snatched away one of the eco-protestors’ banners.
The stage invasion occurred during the musical’s famous protest song of Do You Hear The People Sing? which is often seen as a call to action and has been used all over the world in rebellions including the 2019 Jong Kong demonstrations.
The protestors are calling on staff and students to join the protest group’s march in London in November.
Protestor Daniel Knorr, 21, said he was taking action to ‘resist the destruction of my generation’, while another said protesting ‘gives me hope’.
Both Knorr, a biochemistry student and Noah Crane, 18, a recent A-Level graduate, were pictured painting the historic Radcliffe Camera building earlier today.
George Simonson, 23, a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Edinburgh, was responsible for the paint on the glass facade of ‘The Forum’ on the Exeter University campus.
Simonson said: ‘Studying engineering taught me that we already have the solutions to address the climate crisis, what we lack is the political will. The politicians have been bought, and educational institutions are absolutely complicit in allowing them to continue this genocide.
‘Universities are accepting tens of millions in dirty money and letting the fossil fuel companies come to careers fairs to give out free pens. Students have a duty to step up and show teaching institutions we won’t stand for it anymore.’