How ‘Just Stop Oil 2.0’ will ruin your summer: Now Youth Demand plot to bring London to a standstill as orange-clad eco zealots end reign of terror on hard-working Brits

Last month, Brits rejoiced when Just Stop Oil announced it was hanging up the orange hi-vis after three years of stunts – but a new kid on the block is bringing fresh misery in its place. 

JSO’s goal was to wean Britain off fossil fuels – a policy which is now being implemented by Ed Miliband’s Department for Net Zero.

And so the group – which has tormented people around the country with waves of controversial, and often illegal, protests causing havoc for people trying to go about their daily lives – announced it was stopping direct action.

Long-suffering Brits have missed funerals, cancer appointments and seen tens of thousands of journeys disrupted by the activists as part of their campaign. 

But the void left by the neon-orange clad eco-zealots is already being filled by a determined group called Youth Demand, which has snappily branded itself ‘JSO 2.0’.

Many of those in Youth Demand, whose members have also opted to wear JSO’s trademark colour, have come from the notorious original campaign group which caused many members of the public headaches.

The bright website boasts ‘young people are resisting’ and they have organised a list of activities – including ‘action training’ and ‘legal briefing’ as they rally the troops.

The group is planning daily co-ordinated actions to ‘shut down London with swarming road-blocks day after day’ this month.

Its website reads: ‘In 2024, we built a national youth resistance organisation. We mobilised over a thousand people to pull off 60 actions, from blockading central London during the summer, plastering a picture from the Gaza genocide on a Picasso painting and shutting down five UK cities in November.

‘In April we are bringing things to a whole new level. We will shut down genocidal ‘business as usual’ in London for a month straight. It’s time for every single person to be in resistance.’

This forecasts a nightmarish summer for many. MailOnline previously revealed the new group is planning to target the British Museum and other London landmarks this month.

They hope to overwhelm the justice system by clogging the courts and costing the police ‘millions of pounds’ in shifts.

Plans to ‘swarm’ London were announced at a strategy launch event in the City.

An undercover reporter who attended the meeting was told by a leading activist that the British Museum was one of a number of landmarks protesters planned to target.

Boasting to around 100 young people at Limehouse Town Hall, Youth Demand leader Sam Holland, 22, said: ‘Just one swarm team last summer cost the Met police £25,000.

‘If we do 10 actions a day for a month straight it will cost the city millions of pounds.

‘We’re disrupting until they meet our demands.

‘We’re not [just] protesting, we’re resisting and forcing change from the government.’

Teams from across the country will travel to London on rotation in a nationally co-ordinated effort to flood the capital’s streets.

In a post on Telegram – an encrypted messaging site – shared to more than 1,100 Youth Demand supporters across Britain, it stated: ‘With your help, we will shut it down for Palestine and those suffering across the world.

‘Let’s make history together.’

To fund the month-long protest Youth Demand were hoping to raise around £75,000 from big ticket donors and individuals to cover costs such as living expenses for full-time activists, accommodation for protesters, legal support and posters.

And they kicked this off on Saturday, when 40 Youth Demand protesters were told to move on by the police during a pro-Palestinian rally after they blocked traffic in central London.

They met at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the morning and made their way to King’s Cross station.

Some held banners which read ‘Stop arming Israel’ while others let off green flares.

This is the beginning of the plans to protest every single Tuesday and Saturday in April.

Inspired by Just Stop Oil’s protests, hundreds of their supporters will block roads and traffic.

But instead of sticking to one location, they will continuously disperse to different spots when police arrive – a tactic known as swarming – as they look to create maximum disruption.

The Met Police issued the protesters with a warning under section seven of the Public Order Act, Youth Demand said.

The group moved on after just 10 minutes.

A Met spokesperson previously said: ‘Youth Demand have stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April using tactics including ‘swarming’ and road blocks.

‘While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.’

Last month, dozens of police battered down a door to arrest six women, who were plotting their April action, at a Quaker meeting group.

More than 30 police officers made the arrests at a welcome talk held at the Westminster Meeting House at around 7.30pm, Youth Demand claimed.

Youth Demand said the meeting was ‘an opportunity to share plans for non-violent civil resistance actions’ due to take place in April.

The group claimed a number of houses were also raided on the same night and into Friday, March 28, as part of the operation.

In a statement, Quakers in Britain said: ‘Quakers support the right to nonviolent public protest, acting themselves from a deep moral imperative to stand up against injustice and for our planet.

‘Many have taken nonviolent direct action over the centuries from the abolition of slavery to women’s suffrage and prison reform.’

The Met Police said at the time: ‘Youth Demand have stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April using tactics including ‘swarming’ and road blocks.

‘While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.

‘On Thursday, 29 March officers raided a Youth Demand planning meeting at an address in Westminster where those in attendance were plotting their April action.

‘Six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Five of those arrested on Thursday have been released on bail and one will face no further action.

‘A further five arrests for the same offence were made on Friday, 28 March. Four of the arrests were at addresses in London and one in Exeter.

‘All five of those arrested on Friday have been released on bail.’

Previous demonstrations by Youth Demand included three people hanging a banner and laying rows of children’s shoes outside Sir Keir Starmer’s home in April last year, following which three people in their 20s were handed suspended prison sentences.

One Youth Demand activist wearing an ‘Eat s*** Rishi’ shirt staged a vile ‘dirty protest’ at the former Prime Minister’s £2million mansion in Yorkshire in a major security breach last June.

And many members from JSO have now flocked to the new group.

These include Chiara Sarti, who sprayed the gatehouse of King’s College Cambridge with orange paint in 2023.

There is also Eddie Whittingham, who covered a pool table in orange powder in Sheffield the same year, and many others.

The group is calling for the British Government to impose a complete trade embargo on Israel and make the ‘super rich’ pay £1 trillion in climate damages to the Global South.