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Ten Just Stop Oil activists arrested over Heathrow plot

Cutting gear and glue were found on members of the group, police said.

Pol Allingham
Wednesday 24 July 2024 12:29 EDT
Nine Just Stop Oil activists have been arrested at Heathrow Airport (Steve Parsons/PA)
Nine Just Stop Oil activists have been arrested at Heathrow Airport (Steve Parsons/PA) (PA Archive)

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Ten Just Stop Oil activists suspected of planning to disrupt Heathrow Airport have been arrested, police have said.

Seven people were detained in the vicinity of the airport on Wednesday morning and taken into custody.

Cutting gear and glue were found on the activists, the Metropolitan Police said.

Three others were arrested at other locations, also on suspicion of conspiring to interfere with a site of key national infrastructure under the Public Order Act. They all remain in custody.

None of the activists was able to get into the airport, the force added.

Anyone who compromises the safety and security of our airports will face the full force of the law

Ch Supt Ian Howells, Metropolitan Police

ā€œDoing so would have led to the suspension of flight operations causing a major impact to international aviation,ā€ Scotland Yard said.

Chief Superintendent Ian Howells, who led the operation, said: ā€œThese arrests are an excellent example of co-ordinated action by colleagues from across the Met to prevent the significant disruption intended by JSO.

ā€œThis planned action was extremely reckless and would have represented a real risk to the travelling public.

ā€œHad it not been for these arrests, flights would have been suspended, impacting thousands of passengers and businesses including hard-working families going on their summer holidays.

ā€œIt could also have caused serious danger to passengers and aircraft with flights being diverted and cancelled.

ā€œThis type of action is completely unacceptable. The Met will continue to work with our national policing colleagues, airport operators and the wider aviation sector to prevent such criminal acts and to safeguard the travelling public.

ā€œAnyone who compromises the safety and security of our airports will face the full force of the law.ā€

Footage shared to the Just Stop Oil account on X, formerly Twitter, appears to show people cycling near a high barbed wire-topped fence close to passenger planes before dismounting and being approached by officers.

The group said ā€œthe international uprising beginsā€ and that a number of people had been arrested ā€œin two locations on the perimeter road around Heathrowā€.

It followed protests at multiple airports across Europe, JSO said.

It claimed German supporters of climate activist group Last Generation caused international delays at Cologne-Bonn Airport.

The German airport reported that ā€œunauthorised peopleā€ gained access to its security area on Wednesday morning.

Flights were suspended due to the police operation and resumed once it had finished, but delays and cancellations are ā€œto be expected during the course of the dayā€, the airport said.

A JSO spokesman said: ā€œWe refuse to die for fossil fuels. Continued burning of oil, gas and coal, as we pass irreversible tipping points that threaten to spin our climate out of control in a rapidly accelerating way, is jeopardising the stability on which our entire society depends.

ā€œThis is not only irresponsible, it is an act of war against low lying island states and countries in the global south, who are already suffering devastating consequences as a result of our addiction to fossil fuels.

ā€œOur political leaders must take action to protect our communities by working with other nations to establish a legally binding treaty to stop the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.ā€

We are in full agreement that the aviation industry needs to decarbonise, but unlawful and irresponsible protest activity will not be tolerated

Heathrow Airport spokesman

A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said: ā€œThere has been absolutely no impact on operations whatsoeverā€ and that ā€œno-one gained entry to anywhere they shouldnā€™t be.

ā€œThanks to swift action from the police and airport colleagues, there is no disruption to passenger journeys.

ā€œHeathrow continues to operate as normal today.

ā€œWe are in full agreement that the aviation industry needs to decarbonise, but unlawful and irresponsible protest activity will not be tolerated.ā€

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