After years of disruptive protests, climate activism group Just Stop Oil is hanging up its high-visibility vests and putting away its orange paint, ending its campaign against the fossil fuel industry. 

The group, launched in February 2022, has seen its members and activists arrested over 2,000 times, with dozens of individuals having spent time in prison over disruptive protests that left Stonehenge and English universities covered in paint and a Van Gogh splashed with soup. 

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In a statement released Thursday, Just Stop Oil explained that the group would end its public direct-action protests but will continue to campaign in the courts, prisons, and legal systems in the United Kingdom. 

“So it is the end of soup on Van Goghs, cornstarch on Stonehenge and slow marching in the streets,” the group wrote. “But it is not the end of trials, of tagging and surveillance, of fines, probation and years in prison.” 

The environmentalist organization declared a win in its campaign to stop new oil and gas development, claiming Just Stop Oil was “one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history.” 

“We’ve kept over 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the ground and the courts have ruled new oil and gas licences (sic) unlawful,” the group said. 

Last July, the newly elected Labour government committed not to permit any new oil and gas drilling licenses in the North Sea as part of the country’s broader effort to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

Earlier this month, the British government announced it would conduct an eight-week consultation to manage the region’s transition from oil and gas to cleaner energy sources, such as renewables and hydrogen. 

However, at the time, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband insisted that oil and gas production would still play an important role in the North Sea in supporting Britain’s energy demand, according to the Guardian. 

Just Stop Oil announced Thursday that its final public protest will be held in Parliament Square in London on April 26. The protest, described as “one last action,” is expected to be less disruptive than previous demonstrations, as the organization has said it would not be pushing for arrests during the event. 

As thousands of Just Stop Oil protesters have faced arrests in the last three years, many have been hit with charges and years of jail time. 

Even the group’s co-founder, Roger Hallam, was sentenced to five years over conspiring to disrupt traffic during a protest that brought parts of the M25 motorway, which encircles most of Greater London, to a halt. 

Five other Just Stop Oil protesters were also jailed over the demonstration, receiving sentences as long as four years. Earlier in March, all six protesters saw their sentences reduced after a mass appeal. Hallam’s jail time was brought down to four years. 

Since its inception, Just Stop Oil has repeatedly made headlines for its disruptive protests in museums, public squares, and historical sites. 

One of its most memorable demonstrations came in June 2024, when two protesters associated with the group were caught on video spraying Stonehenge with an orange paint powder while onlookers yelled for them to stop. Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 22, were charged with destroying or damaging an ancient protected monument and intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance. 

Another notable protest happened in October 2022 when two protesters splashed a can of soup on the 1888 Vincent van Gogh painting Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. The painting itself was unharmed, except for damage to its frame. The protesters were handed sentences of two years and 20 months respectively. 

Other disruptive protests carried out over the last three years include interrupting a West End production of The Tempest, pouring orange paint over a Tesla robot, running onto the track during the 2022 British Grand Prix, storming the courts of Wimbledon, halting a West End performance of Les Miserables, and spraying orange paint on universities across England. 

While Just Stop Oil will end its use of disruptive tactics, other environmentalist groups have vowed to continue taking public action in climate activism.

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“Just Stop Oil paid a heavy price for raising their voices at a time when politicians and corporations are trying to silence peaceful protesters – in the streets and in the courts. We must not allow our hard-won right to protest to be stripped away, because it is the right that all other rights depend upon,” the co-director of Greenpeace U.K., Will McCallum, said in a statement obtained by the Guardian. 

“Greenpeace and many others will continue to defend this proud tradition of taking action on issues that matter to make change possible,” it said.