Heathrow climate protests meet heavy police presence
Yesterday’s climate change stand-off between police appears to have passed by as a lazy Sunday with little of the major disruption that campaigners were hoping for. There were minor scuffles with riot police as the ‘direct action’ by protesters targeted the offices of Heathrow Airport operator BAA. It seemed, though, that most protesters intended to make their voice heard loudly, yet peacefully.
The BAA protest formed part of what was hoped to be 24 hours of disruption by the Camp for Climate Action. However, swarms of yellow jacketed riot police outnumbered protesters by almost two to one, and the police seemed in remarkable control of any intended chaos. About 100 protesters were sitting down at the entrance to the headquarters' car park in the hopes of blocking BAA staff from coming into work.
Organisers said 1,400 people took part while police at the scene put the number at about 1,000. By dusk many of the protesters had blankets and bottled water, indicating they intended to stay the night to block BAA employees on Monday morning. Earlier in the day 50 protesters were contained in nearby Mondial Way, following confrontations between police and protestors in which missiles were thrown at officers. One person was arrested for assaulting a police officer, one for carrying Class A drugs and another for criminal damage. Six people in total were arrested.
Alex Harvey, one of the campaigners at the camp, said the "siege" at BAA would last until Monday morning.
[via BBC]
