Nine activists of the Black Lives Matter campaign group have been arrested after chaining themselves together on the runway of London’s City Airport, disrupting all flights in and out of the busy travel hub for six hours.
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An employee at the airport who wished to remain anonymous told IBTimes UK that the protest had caused chaos, with travellers pissed off as a result of the delays and cancellations and staff going nuts.
The protesters were being held on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully air-side and breaching airport by-laws, police said.
According to the global media, the protest led to the cancellation of 12 flights and delayed another 16. It says expansion consigns the local community of Newham to environmental degradation.
During the protest, the group took to social media to explain this particular fight, citing their aim as being to “highlight the U.K.’s environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally”.
“Black people are the first to die, not the first to fly, in this racist climate crisis”.
Its sole runway is surrounded by water, but it was reported that the protesters were able to either swim or use a dinghy to cross the wharf, raising questions about security.
The Black Lives Matter movement was started in 2012 after George Zimmerman, a white man in Florida, was found not guilty of killing African American teenager Trayvon Martin. But it has been branching out to other countries – such as the Britain, Canada, Brazil and France – and the movement has focused on different issues in different countries.
London City Airport is located between the British capital’s two major financial districts and businesses from that sector make up the bulk of its client base.
There will likely be much discussion in Britain over the tactics the protesters used on Tuesday.
“The average salary of a London City airport user is €136,000 …”
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Inbound flights have been diverted to Southend and Gatwick.
