PLANE WRONG
Extinction Rebellion – Paralympic athlete glues himself to a British Airways jet at London City airport as arrests top 1,000
AN Extinction Rebellion protester glued himself to the top of a British Airways plane at London City Airport yesterday as the total number of arrests topped 1,000.
The man, who Extinction Rebellion identified as former Paralympic cyclist James Brown, held onto the aircraft in a video streamed online by the protest group.
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Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick. branded his actions "reckless, stupid and dangerous".
She said: "My early understanding is somebody has been arrested after they... presumably bought a ticket, went through security perfectly normally, went up the steps of a plane and hurled themselves on top of a plane.
"Actually, that was a reckless, stupid and dangerous thing to do for all concerned. But I think you can see that is quite a hard thing to predict or stop from happening."
Yesterday's demonstrations focused on London City Airport, where protesters attempted a "Hong Kong-style occupation of the terminal building" with hundreds blocking the main entrance.
Eco-warriors also blocked the entrance road, climbed on to the terminal roof and glued themselves to the entrance of the DLR station serving the East London airport.
By 8pm last night, the Met Police said there had been 1,112 arrests since the start of demonstrations on Monday - including 50 at the airport yesterday.
Dame Cressida insisted Scotland Yard has enough cells to hold and process all of the activists, adding officers were being taken away from tackling knife crime or protecting children to police the demonstrations.
She said the protesters were "utterly irresponsible and completely unreasonable" for their determination to take over and key roads in London for a two-week period.
She told the eco-warriors to demonstrate in the pedestrian area of Trafalgar Square, saying: "Protest lawfully or go home."
Only two flights were cancelled at the airport and there were no longer any protesters outside the terminal shortly after 7pm.
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Gail Bradbrock hailed the demonstration as a success as she said: "I think the most important thing is that we are alerting the British people to the crisis that we're in and the threat to all the forms of business-as-usual."
'IT'S ABOUT THE CLIMATE'
Brown, who is visually impaired, was arrested at Heathrow last month after a protest which saw Heathrow Pause - an splinter group of Extinction Rebellion - try to fly a drone near the airport.
The 54-year-old, a former Paralympic athlete who won a bronze medal at London 2012, glued himself to the top of a BA Embraer 190 jet.
In a video he posted online he said: "Here I am on top of a f****** aeroplane at City Airport. I hate heights, I'm s******* myself, I managed to get on the roof. I am so shaky.
"This is all about the climate and ecological crisis, we’re protesting against government inaction on climate and ecological breakdown. They declare a climate emergency and then do nothing about it.
"In fact they go the opposite direction, they sanction the expansion of airports, Heathrow, Bristol and others. We can’t let this go on, we can't have our cake and eat it.
He later noticed security were approaching and said: "Oh good security are coming. I hope they don’t take too long because this is f****** scary".
He was eventually removed.
A spokeswoman for BA yesterday said "we are investigating what happened as a matter of urgency".
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Meanwhile another protester managed to ground a flight from London City Airport to Dublin yesterday - to the fury of the passengers on board.
The Aer Lingus flight was on the runway and about to take off when a smartly dressed man stood up and gave a lecture on climate change.
Filming himself on his phone, the man said: "I don't wish to travel with you, but I don't wish to get off".
He went on: "I'm extremely sorry for the inconvenience".
Furious passengers responded saying: "You're not sorry at all".
As their flight was held up, travellers pleaded with crew to remove the bespectacled man from the plane.
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Continuing to address those on board, the man said: "We have two generations of human civilisation left if we carry on doing what we are doing".
Another passenger then asked him: "Why are you filming yourself?"
The man was later seen being led away from the aircraft by police officers.
The flight, scheduled to depart at 9.40am, but was delayed by ten minutes.
Passenger Warren Swalbe tweeted: "Just about to take from London City airport. Our flight was infiltrated by a climate change protester".
Nicholas Watt, the political editor of BBC Newsnight, wrote: "My flight from London City airport to Dublin has just been grounded by a climate change protester. On runway and about to take off when smartly dressed man in late middle age stood up with iPhone to deliver lecture on climate change up and down aisle.
"Cabin crew calmly and very politely asked protester to resume his seat. Politely but persistently he declined and proceeded to deliver his lecture on climate change in aisle.
"Plane was at the end of runway. So the pilot taxied back to gate where plane was met by throng of police. They came on board and escorted the protester off the plane.
"The final irony of the climate protest on our flight. We cannot take off until we have taken on extra fuel...to replace the fuel used up during the protest, our pilot notes with humour".
Aer Lingus said the passenger was removed "due to disruptive behaviour on board" and a full security check of the aircraft was completed before the plane departed.
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The climate change group started their three-day "Hong Kong-style" shut down of London City Airport yesterday, gluing themselves to the terminal building and dancing on a roof - but ultimately failing to cancel flights.
Robert Sinclair, chief executive of London City Airport, said there were no longer any protesters outside the terminal shortly after 7pm last night.
"We continue to work with the Metropolitan Police to ensure that our passengers tonight and tomorrow have a safe and secure service," he said.
"The airport has remained fully operational throughout the day and has run an almost complete schedule of flights, with just two flights cancelled as a result of the protest activity."
The latest protest is against the climate impact of flying and the Government's ongoing support of airport expansion.
Hundreds of environmentalists attempted to block the entrance to the airport from the DLR by sitting together on the ground and singing "Fly today, gone tomorrow".
Activist Phil Kingston, 83, was among those arrested - the third time he has been arrested as part of Extinction Rebellion protests in the past week.
Protesters were seen being dragged out the airport by officers after failing to break through security into the terminal.
One was heard saying: "Please stop you're hurting me".
One activist climbed onto part of the roof of the terminal building where he was cheered by fellow protesters.
Standing on the roof, he bellowed down: ";Shut the airport down! Rebellion!"
He then danced on the roof as a live band played clarinet music below.
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Those arriving for flights were redirected to a second terminal entrance by security workers and were not allowed to enter the building without showing their boarding cards first.
Taxi driver Jason Lempiere said that the protests had disrupted his work in and around the city.
He said: "It's disturbing everyone's everyday life; working, travel in and out of the airport. Yeah, have a voice, but not disrupt people's lives like this".
Yesterday's protest at City Airport is the fourth day of demonstrations by the climate change group.
Protesters have been camped on roads around Parliament Square and Whitehall since Monday calling for urgent action on climate change and wildlife.
They have confiscated eight ten-ton lorries worth of kit, including generators, power sources, toilets, tents and sleeping equipment.
A total of 500 cops from other forces from England and Wales have been brought in to help cope with the protests.
On Wednesday night, activists continued their protests in Trafalgar Square as they were joined by Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Amstell, and electronic music duo Disclosure and Orbital played a set.
In the wake of Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling the protesters "uncooperative crusties", his father Stanley Johnson said the comments were made in humour and he would consider it a compliment to be called a crusty by his son.
Defending the protest group's tactics Mr Johnson Snr said: "I don't think many of them are breaking the law.
I believe that they are wedded to non-violence, to peaceful protest."
The airport is the capital's fifth-biggest, popular with business travellers, bankers and politicians for short-haul and regional routes.
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The demonstration's come as Sir Christopher Hohn, who is worth £1.2 billion, made a personal donation of £50,000 to the environmental group, according to .
Mr Hohn said: "I recently gave them £50,000 because humanity is aggressively destroying the world with climate change and there is an urgent need for us all to wake up to this fact."
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation, a charity co-founded by the billionaire, has also donated more than £150,000.
WHO ARE EXTINCTION REBELLION?
Extinction Rebellion is calling on the Government declare a climate and ecological emergency, act immediately to halt wildlife loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Earlier in the year, Parliament declared a climate and environment emergency and the Government has passed a law to cut emissions to net zero by 2050, far later than the activists are demanding.
The group staged 11 days of protests in London in April that disrupted public transport and roads.
On Thursday Extinction Rebellion activists used a fire engine to hose red liquid at the Treasury to draw attention to what they said was the government's failure to avert climate disaster.
Last week the Met warned that the protests were taking officers away from other vital roles in the capital including tackling knife crime and domestic violence.
More resources have been used policing climate change protest than focusing on terror, it was said.
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