Fresh approach for Youth Demand as new radical group reshapes climate activism

Daily Mirror

19-05-2025

The UK climate resistance movement has shed its skin and re-emerged anew. You may not have heard the name of this new group, but you've likely heard reference to their actions - the most recent of which took place at this year's Eurovision. Two of the group's members tried to rush on stage to disrupt Israeli singer Yuval Raphael's performance on May 17.
On March 27, 2025, Just Stop Oil (JSO) declared an end to their direct-action campaigns, claiming historic success in light of the government's net zero plan. JSO activist Hannah Hunt stood outside 10 Downing Street to make the announcement, where three years prior she had kicked off the campaign. But while JSO was pulling focus, just a half mile away in the Westminster Quaker House, a new campaign was taking shape.
On the same day that JSO ended its direct action campaigns, Youth Demand – originally the student arm of Just Stop Oil - had scheduled a Welcome Talk in the Westminster Quaker Meeting House. The agenda was to discuss the war in Gaza and the climate crisis and plan a fresh wave of civil resistance demonstrations across the capital. Less than an hour after the talk began though, it was raided by Met Police.
Six attendees were arrested during the raid on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Still, Youth Demand pushed forward with their promise to 'shut down London' for the month of April, holding regular open rallies. The April campaign reached its height during the London Marathon when two Youth Demand protestors threw red paint onto Tower Bridge during the men's elite race. A move straight out of the Just Stop Oil protest playbook.
Youth Demand kickstarting a month of non-stop protests as JSO ended their disruptive campaign is hardly a coincidence, especially considering the overlap in members. This was likely the preordained destiny of Youth Demand, as it had once been for Just Stop Oil. At the end of 2022, it was JSO that picked up the baton of disruptive action while another faction, Extinction Rebellion, withdrew from the spotlight.
Speaking to The Mirror, Youth Demand spokesperson (and Just Stop Oil activist) Chiara Sarti, confirmed that there is a 'lifecycle' to the movement. That cycle seems to go like this: one radical group draws media attention and stokes public ire before publicly withdrawing, giving an offshoot group the opportunity to reassemble, re-strategise and restate its demands.
The main way Youth Demand digresses from its predecessors is with its pro-Palestinian messaging. One of the group's two demands calls for the UK government to impose a total trade embargo on Israel. While JSO also expressed solidarity with pro-Palestine groups, its core values were decidedly climate focused when it was established.
The UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband'snet zero plan effectively met JSO's demand to end new fossil fuel licenses in the UK, presenting an opportune moment for the movement to restate its priorities. There is certainly a strong connection between the two demands, as carbon emissions from the Israel-Gaza conflict have proven to be substantial according to a study from an international team of researchers - one of whom is a senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London.
While the JSO ultimatum may have been revised, the play remains the same as always: sustained disruption. But does this tactic really work?
Despite JSO's widely unpopular public standing – a YouGov poll of over 4,000 people found only 16% found the group favourable – they have had a positive effect on the climate movement by some estimations.
According to protest research group, Social Change Lab, JSO has had a 'radical flank effect' - driving public support for more moderate groups. Social Change Lab says people exposed to Just Stop Oil's actions were more likely to engage in pro-climate activities like volunteering, donating to charity, or contacting their MP.
The effect of radical flanks also extends to voter intentions. According to research group's most recent report: 'disruptive climate protests—including those by Just Stop Oil—have led to a measurable uptick in support for green political parties in the UK.'
The data suggests that JSO's actions were linked to a 0.32 percentage point rise in Green Party vote share. 'For the Green Party and SNP together, this would represent a 5% increase in their share of the vote—a sizable effect in closely fought races,' cites the report.
But even if the radical measures are working to a degree - new policing measures have dampened the movement's pervasive power. Just Stop Oil were the first to experience the new anti-protest crackdown and Youth Demand have inherited the problem.
According to Sarti, Youth Demand protestors are prepared to be arrested and even face imprisonment for the sake of the cause. She herself has seen jailtime for her protest actions. After participating in a JSO slow march for 20 minutes, Sarti and other members were arrested under section 7 of the Public Order, which bans any act 'which interferes with the use or operation of any key national infrastructure in England and Wales'.
Introduced in 2023, the broad-spectrum order can be applied to protestors marching on public highways without prior permission or blocking roadways. It is a marked escalation of the police's strategy to deal with climate protestors, which was previously relegated to senior officers imposing 'conditions on public assemblies' like route restrictions and time limitations.
The UK government explicitly referenced Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain in their reasoning for reintroducing the 2023 Public Order, citing the high costs of policing JSO. The new anti-protest law builds on the existing legal framework introduced by the Policing Act 2022, which encompasses another charge increasingly affecting JSO and now Youth Demand activists: suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
All six women arrested during the Quaker house raid on March 27 were arrested on this charge, as were the Youth Demand protestors arrested during the London Marathon and throughout the month of April.
Following the Quaker house raids, a spokesperson for the Met Police told The Mirror: '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."
Fighting these charges in court is a new frontier for Youth Demand. According to Sarti, the jury trial for her section 7 arrest was a "complete sham". Sarti attests that she and her co-defendants were prohibited by the judgefrom citing the immediate threat of climate change as a justification for their actions. She was subsequently sentenced to a 12-month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work.
Youth Demand is adapting their strategy publicly and behind the scenes to contend with the new policing and legal realities. But overall, the group is taking the crackdown as a sign that the government is feeling the pressure and predicts it will only fuel their cause.
"Repression at this stage is a good thing," explains Sarti. "Injustice gets people in action. Seeing something that violates our values gets people out on the street.
"So, when people see the Metropolitan Police bashing down the door of a Quaker meeting house and arresting six people for just sitting in a circle and having a meeting about the situation we're in, then it's an injury to our value system. To the things that we consider to be right. And that gets people out on the road."