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UK climate protesters plan to disrupt London Heathrow airport

Police officers confront a climate change activist blocking the road junction at Oxford Circus in central London on April 18, 2019, the fourth day of an environmental protest by the Extinction Rebellion group. (AFP photo)

Climate protesters in Britain say they will hold a major protest at London’s Heathrow Airport to disrupt the transportation facility on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Environment group Extinction Rebellion, which has led four days of noisy and sometimes violent protests in London, issued a short message to the media on Thursday saying that activists will be on the gates of Heathrow, one of the World’s busiest airports, on Friday.

The planned action will come after similar moves over the past days affecting London’s transpiration system which has brought parts of the city to standstill.

The Metropolitan Police Service, also known as the Met, has arrested nearly 500 people since protests began on Monday.

“The airport is part of our national infrastructure and we will not allow the illegal activities of protesters to cause further disruption and misery to thousands of travelers,” said The Met.

The force said it had “strong plans in place that would enable it to deploy a significant number of officers to Heathrow and take firm action” if necessary.

The threat comes despite previous statements by police commanders urging protesters to stop their action, saying it had already left the police overstretched and unable to see to other emergencies.

UK government said on Thursday that police will have its full backing for cracking down on the protests which it said had affected the normal lives of millions of citizens.

Extinction Rebellion has warned that disruptions will continue until the government heeds demands of protesters for more action on climate change. Specifically, the protesters want a legislation to reduce UK’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.


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