Paul Raithby had been arrested before, but today was supposed to be different.
A veteran environmental activist and a member of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion (XR), Raithby had ended up in cells after climate actions such as blocking roads, tunnelling, slow marching and protesting at London’s Heathrow Airport.
But today, Raithby’s job was simple. Drive a red van loaded with cleaning products and water sprayers to Lloyd’s insurance market in central London, where his fellow activists were staging an ‘Insure Our Future’ action, part of a global campaign to ask companies to stop insuring fossil fuel projects. The activists planned to clean up after themselves to prevent the fake ‘oil’ – a mix of water, food dye and cornstarch – spilling off the tarpaulin where their ‘drowning in oil’ protest performance piece was taking place.
