In a statement the Met Police said: “There are now nine protestors on the runway at the airport”.
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The Black Lives Matter U.K. group came to prominence last month when they staged a series of roadblocks, including outside Heathrow Airport, the country’s busiest hub.
Black Lives Matter UK, a network of anti-racism activists, said in a statement that the action was taken to protest Britain’s “environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally”.
The group said the United Kingdom is the “biggest per-capita contributor to temperature change”, which will create “200 million climate refugees” by 2050.
Nine people, from the Black Lives Matter movement, erected a tripod on the runway and locked themselves together.
Black Lives Matter was set up as an worldwide movement following the murder in America four years ago of black teenager Trayvon Martin.
“Police are present and we will resume normal operations as soon as possible”, London City said in an e-mail.
The process of removing the protesters began at 9:30 am, but it was not until around 11:30 am that the runway was finally cleared, blocking all flights for six hours.
The airport said in a series of early morning tweets that all runways remained closed, urging passengers to remain patient as police tried to resolve the nuisance. No arrests have been made.
London’s Metropolitan Police said the officers were on the scene negotiating with the demonstrators.
It is thought the group either swam across the London docklands to reach the runway or used a small dingy.
Over 120 flights were either cancelled, delayed or diverted due to the protests. “We apologise to passengers for any inconvenience to their journey”, an airport spokesperson said.
He declined to go into detail about how the protesters gained access to the site, but confirmed it was via the Thames.
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The group have also released a video with the caption: “Climate Crisis is Racist Crisis”.
