in

Heathrow drone protests: Climate activists arrested over plot to shut down London's busiest airport – The Independent, Google News

Heathrow drone protests: Climate activists arrested over plot to shut down London's busiest airport – The Independent, Google News


    

             

                          

                                                                         

Two climate campaigners have been arrested on suspicion of planning to flydronesnearHeathrow Airport.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

A group called Heathrow Pause, an offshoot ofExtinction Rebellion, planned to disrupt flights.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Activists had said yesterday that the devices would be flown on Friday at head height and away from flight paths to avoid any safety risk.

                                                                                                                                                                            

  

    

We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.

    

From     15 p    € 0. 18    $ 0. 18    USD 0. 27    a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

    

                            

But theMetropolitan Policesaid the action would be criminal andanyone taking part would be arrested.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Heathrow Pause tweeted that prospective drone pilots Roger Hallam and Mike Lynch-White had been “preemptively arrested”.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

    

        

(left)Created with Sketch.26        rightCreated with Sketch.

    

                                                                                                                         

The group had announced it intended to fly the machines in the 3.1-mile exclusion zone around the airport, potentially disrupting hundreds of flights.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Members said its activists were “prepared to pay a very high price” to protest against the planned third runway.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

They are also calling for the government to “tell the truth” about the climate crisis and act on parliament’s declaration of a climate emergency.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

The action was designed to highlight “the grave risk of airport expansion during the climate and ecological emergency”, they said.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

In a video of one of the arrests, outside an east London cafe, three plain-clothes officers handcuff Mr Hallam and caution him.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Someone off-camera asks what he’s being arrested for and he says: “Flying a drone – I haven’t done it yet – on conspiracy”.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

  

             

Only the best news inyour inbox

    

    

             

Only the best news inyour inbox

    

  

  

                                                                                  

Replying to another – incomprehensible – question, Mr Hallam, 53, an organic farmer and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, says: “Whatever it takes,” before being put in a car.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Heathrow Pause said those flying drones were committed to “non-violence, transparency and accountability and to cooperating with the police as far as is possible”.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

But police had urged anyone intending to fly drones illegally near Heathrow to abandon their plan, warning: “Anyone caught flying a drone without permission must expect to be arrested and prosecuted.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Mr Hallam said earlier this week: “The Heathrow expansion is the biggest carbon-intensive infrastructure project in Europe, so I’ll be flying a drone at head height, some distance from Heathrow.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

“It’ll be 100 per cent safe and 100 per cent illegal. So I’m likely to get arrested and I could be going to prison. ”

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

He said he was doing it for the future of the world’s children.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

“And I’m also doing it because I’m a farmer. And as a farmer I’ve experienced the stress and horror of losing all my crops because of climate extremities. ”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

But some social media users criticized the group’s actions, one tweeting: “I hope they all get locked up for the maximum sentence … flagrantly bragging they are going to break the law. People could die but you just don’t care – hypocrisy at it’s best. ”

                                                                                                                                          

        

            Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events         

    

                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

             

  

Brave Browser
Read More
Payeer

What do you think?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings

Two held on suspicion of murder following death of baby girl in south-east London – Evening Standard, Google News

Two held on suspicion of murder following death of baby girl in south-east London – Evening Standard, Google News

Mysterious Jurassic crocodile identified 250 years after fossil find – HeritageDaily, Google News

Mysterious Jurassic crocodile identified 250 years after fossil find – HeritageDaily, Google News