The group was sentenced to conditional discharges ranging from 18 months to two years, and were ordered to pay £95 costs.
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But the judge in their sentencing case said while they obviously “care deeply” about the issue of climate change, she could not see the connection to protesting against racial inequality.
Pictures of the protest at the airport show demonstrators with banners, including one which said “Black Lives Matter”.
The judge said that it was a peaceful but disruptive protest and that she did not doubt the strength and sincerity of their beliefs, particularly in relation to climate change.
But the judge said she found it “rather hard” to make a link between the Black Lives Matter campaign, which highlights mistreatment by U.S. police, and climate change, the cause of the, mostly white, protesters.
Police arrived to hear the group chanting “black lives matter” and about climate change.
Prosecutor Philip McGhee told the court: “The nine defendants breached the perimeter of the aerodrome at London City Airport, by way of crossing the water to the runway using inflatable rafts under power, launched from Albert Island”.
“The action was taken in order to highlight the UK’s environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally”, it added. The group had been wearing wetsuits.
The others were Ben Tippet, 24, also of Thurleigh Road, Wandsworth, Pettifer, 27, of Radford Mill Farm, Radford, Esme Waldron, 23, of Walmer Crescent, Brighton, Sam Lund-Harket, 32, and Alex Etchart, who both live on a houseboat, Sama Bakr, 27, of no fixed address, Deborah Francis-Grayson, 31, of St Mary’s Road, Slough and Richard Collet-White, 23, of Spring Road, Kempston.
“When the police attempted to engage with them, they gave no comment”.
Jennifer Whitney, a teacher at John Muir Elementary, came up with the idea to make the shirts that read, “Black Lives Matter, We Stand Together” with the school’s name included, a local NBC News affiliate reported.
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By the time it was possible to safely separate the group, up to 131 flights had been cancelled or affected, along with around 9,000 passengers who would have been on business and personal trips.
