Climate change activists say they have successfully launched a drone intended to cause disruption at Heathrow Airport.
Heathrow Pause – a splinter of the Extinction Rebellion movement – has said it intends to fly the machines in the airport’s 3.1-mile (5km) exclusion zone, potentially disrupting hundreds of flights.
In a post on Twitter, the protest group said it had attempted three drone flights and at least one was successful, with more flights planned later today.
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed nine arrests during Thursday and Friday.
A 10 th protester called James had handed himself into police “having completed his flight” and is currently being held in Heathrow terminal 2, according to the group.
Activist James Brown, a former Paralympian, said as many as 35 people were trying to fly drones at Heathrow today and there were “lots and lots of people” still out there.
Two men were arrested in the early hours of Friday morning on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance within the perimeter of Heathrow.
It comes after seven people – including Extinction Rebellion’s co-founder Roger Hallam –were detained on Thursdayahead of the planned protest.
A live stream video shared on Heathrow Pause’s Twitter account early on Friday showed two people struggling to get a drone off the ground.
The two men, filming themselves near a road, said they were experiencing “a technical glitch”.
In a post on Twitter, the protest group said: “Heathrow using signal jamming to frustrate early flights.”
The Met said a dispersal order had been put in place at Heathrow until 4. 30 am on Sunday “to prevent criminal activity which poses a significant safety and security risk to the airport”.
A large police presence was seen in the airport area on Friday morning and protesters have been warned theycould be handed life sentencesif they are found to be endangering the lives of passengers.
The planned protest action is meant to ground flights and put pressure on the government to take tougher steps to reduce carbon emissions.
In a statement on Friday, Heathrow Airport confirmed its runways were open as normal and said it was committed to addressing climate change.
“We agree with the need for climate change action but illegal protest activity designed with the intention of disrupting thousands of people is not the answer, “the airport said.
Heathrow said it was determined to remain operational during potential disruption, which comes shortly afterBritish Airways pilots staged a 48 – hour strikein a row over pay, forcing hundreds of flights to be cancelled.
The planned demonstration at Heathrow is the latest in a string of climate change protests this year .
They included widespread action in London in April which saw Extinction Rebellion bring sites including Oxford Circus and Waterloo Bridge to a standstill.
Extinction Rebellion activists are also staging protests at London Fashion Week.
Five activists from the group, wearing white dresses and “bleeding hearts”, glued themselves to the main entrance of the show on Friday.
Other members of the group poured buckets of fake blood around the entrance.
The activists say they want the fashion industry to “tell the truth” about its contribution to the climate crisis.
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