Rishi Sunak's London home draped in black by protesters over oil policy

Greenpeace protesters on Thursday wraped the private home of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in black fabric, further escalating their campaign against his government’s oil drilling policy. An image shared by Greenpeace UK on microblogging platform X, showed four protesters on top of the Prime Minister’s property in northern England. They were seen draping the property with black fabric, while two other protesters held a banner with the message “RISHI SUNAK – OIL PROFITS OR OUR FUTURE?”

🚨BREAKING: Climbers are on the roof of Rishi Sunak’s mansion draping it in 200 metres of oily-black fabric to drive home the dangerous consequences of a new drilling frenzy.#StopRosebank #NoNewOil pic.twitter.com/oeb36Wi2QU

— Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) August 3, 2023

According to a source at Sunak’s office, the police were present at the scene. The source justified the government’s stance on ensuring energy security and emphasized the importance of utilizing domestic resources to avoid dependency on potential aggressors like Vladimir Putin for energy supplies. Sunak said on Wednesday that he was due to leave the country for a holiday that evening. Britain took over the target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 under former Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019, and swiftly expanded its renewable energy capacity. Recent government actions have faced criticism from campaigners. On Monday, the government made a commitment to issue hundreds of licenses for North Sea oil and gas extraction, with the aim of increasing energy independence. Additionally, in December, the government approved the establishment of its first new deep coal mine in several decades. Sunak on Wednesday said that his government has done good work and has much better environmental record than other major countries in cutting carbon emissions. Greenpeace said four activists climbed onto the roof of the prime minister’s home in Yorkshire, northern England, to protest at his backing for the expansion of North Sea oil and gas licences. “We desperately need our prime minister to be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist,” Greenpeace UK said in a statement.