CLIMATE change activists have risked prison by defying a court injunction banning protests near a Midland oil terminal.

About 50 Just Stop Oil campaigners staged a peaceful sit-down protest near the Kingsbury terminal in Warwickshire in defiance of an injunction obtained by North Warwickshire Borough Council in April.

The order gives a power of arrest outside the terminal and at the junctions of nearby roads, but although police were on the scene, no immediate arrests appeared to have been made.

More unlawful protests are planned despite the risk of charges of contempt of court and prison sentences of up to two years.

The campaigners say the injunction is designed to protect the profits of the oil industry: Kingsbury is the largest inland oil storage depot in Britain.

One of the protesters, Michelle Charlesworth, 55, a former human resources professional from Oxfordshire, said: “I would not be able to look my three-year-old grandson in the eye if I didn’t do everything in my power to secure a liveable future for him.

“This is my purpose now. And not just for him but for all of humanity.

“The government is condemning us all to starvation, misery and death if they don’t stop licensing new oil and gas.” 

Zoe Cohen, 52, from Warrington said: “The Prime Minister and her cronies are up to their necks in oil — it’s as if the board of Shell and BP are running the Cabinet! 

“Is there even one of them who didn’t used to work for or isn’t being bought by oil money? Ordinary people don’t stand a chance.”

Since Just Stop Oil activists began blocking oil terminals on April 1, 1,300 have been arrested.