UWE student paints Queen's Building orange as part of Just Stop Oil protest

By Maud Humphries, News Digital Editor

Ben Meehan, a University of the West of England student, painted the University of Bristol's Queen's Building orange in a call to action for 'students and faculty staff to join in civil resistance' for Just Stop Oil.

The student sprayed the glass building with orange paint using a fire extinguisher.

Ben Meehan voiced his distress at the University of Bristol accepting money from companies such as Rolls Royce and Airbus, which he claims represent just under 2% of global emissions.

The Queen's Building is the University's engineering centre, which accepts funding from both these companies.

Meehan says the University is founded 'on exploitation and murder.'

In the video, Meehan accuses the 'genocidal government' of not taking enough action quick enough, and that 'the blood on Rishi Sunak's hands will never come out.'

He calls for people to join the movement and 'civil disobedience' this November in protest of climate change.

Police arrived soon after and arrested the UWE student and the building has since been cleaned.

A University of Bristol spokesperson commented: 'The University of Bristol plays a key role in tackling environmental change through its research, its teaching and how it operates.'

'We know how important this is, not just to our staff and students, but to the whole world, which is why sustainability remains one of the central strands shaping the University's vision of the future.'

'We were the first university in the UK to declare a climate emergency in 2019, reaffirming our strong and positive commitment to take action on climate change and, a year later, in 2020 we completely divested from all investments in fossil fuel companies.'

'We respect our staff and students’ right to raise concerns about issues they feel strongly about in a lawful way and we will continue to listen to and engage with their views, however we ask that these are discussed with us directly and through appropriate channels.'

Featured image: Jamie Bellinger/Just Stop Oil

What do you think about this protest by Just Stop Oil? Let us know!