Activists from the Heathrow Pause group said they would still try to shut down London’s main Heathrow Airport using drones on Friday, despite a series of preemptive raids by police.
The climate group aims to ground flights by flying drones close to the airport, seeking to pressure the UK government to reduce the country’s CO2 emissions.
Read more: Extinction Rebellion: Activists risking prison to save the planet
Police arrested three men and two women on Thursday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance. Two of the group members were being interviewed by German newsmagazine Der Spiegel at the time of the arrest at a cafe in north London.
Despite the arrests, Heathrow Pause said it would go ahead with the action on Friday.
“The action will carry on exactly as planned, peacefully and non-violently, regardless of today’s events, we have contingency measures in place,” the group said in a statement immediately after the five were detained.
Symbolic action
Under Heathrow’s own rules, the airport must close if drones are spotted within a 5-kilometer (3-mile) exclusion zone around it.
Read more: Psychology behind climate inaction: How to beat the ‘doom barrier’
Members of the group — an offshoot of the Extinction Rebellion activist movement — have said they do not plan to operate drones while aircraft are in the air, but instead are aiming for a symbolic action.
London’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said Thursday arrests were “a proportionate response to preventing criminal activity that could significantly impact on a major piece of national infrastructure.”
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Save Mother Earth!
Beginning April 15, protesters with Extinction Rebellion took to the streets of London and other cities to demand governments declare a climate and ecological emergency. They occupied key spots in the city, calling on those in charge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, halt biodiversity loss and set up citizens’ assemblies on climate and ecological justice.
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Creative protests
Extinction Rebellion, founded last year by academics in the United Kingdom, is one of the world’s fastest-growing environmental movements. Their aim is to protest climate change inaction in a creative and nonviolent way. Demonstrators say people are causing their own mass extinction, which is the basis of their “rebellion.”
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Royal support?
Harry and Meghan, the duke and duchess of Sussex, didn’t exactly take part in the sit-in on London’s Waterloo Bridge on April 18. The royals are expecting and protesters used the happy event in their demonstration, having the couple “thank” Extinction Rebellion for saving their child’s future.
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Stuck to the train
Activists have used a variety of unusual protest methods to draw maximum attention and get their point across. Throughout the week, they’ve blocked traffic, climbed atop buses and superglued themselves to buildings and, in the case of this young man at London’s Canary Wharf station on April 17, trains.
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Civil disobedience
The goal of the protests is to temporarily disrupt everyday life. As a result, police have arrested more than 800 people in London alone. Activists want to get the public on their side, but a YouGov survey showed that just 36% of more than 3,500 British polled support the protest, with 52% against.
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Naked truth
Extinction Rebellion protesters first attracted global attention on April 1, during yet another heated Brexit debate in the British Parliament. A group of semi-naked activists revealed themselves in the visitor gallery with slogans including “SOS” and “Stop Wasting Time” written on their bodies, with some gluing their hands to a glass barrier. The scene was quickly broken up my security.
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Global movement
The Extinction Rebellion protests got their start in London, but the movement has also spread to other major cities around the world. On April 15, these activists on the Oberbaum Bridge in Berlin blocked traffic for hours.
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Climate protests: Extinction Rebellion gets creative
Switching tactics?
On April 21, organizers in London said they were willing to switch tactics and talk with the government. “We’re giving them an opportunity now to come and speak to us,” said spokesman James Fox. “If they refuse … then this is going to continue and this going to escalate in different, diverse and very creative ways.”
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Earlier in the week, police said they were confident there would be no repeat of the chaos seen last December at Gatwick Airport, which also serves the UK capital. However, they also warned that any attempted disruption of the airport was a serious crime.
Extinction Rebellion shut down parts of London for more than a week in April in a series of actions that included the blockage of several major roads and businesses. At the time, the group said it planned to carry out an action to shut down Heathrow Airport.
rc/cmk (Reuters, AFP)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/climate-activists-press-ahead-with-heathrow-drone-shutdown/a-50410123?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf