Heathrow protests: Two arrested over drone threat

Two people have been arrested as they attempted to disrupt flights at Heathrow airport with drones in protest over climate change.

Activists attempted to launch drones within the airport’s three-mile exclusion zone at 0300 BST on Friday to call attention to the key role of air travel in the climate emergency. Two of those involved were arrested before the drone could take off.

The protesters were calling for a reduction in air travel and were against Heathrow’s planned expansion, which they said was incompatible with the fight against climate change.

Heathrow said there had been no disruption to flights and assured that airport security and police were working to ensure passenger safety.

“We have in place dynamic risk-assessment programmes which are carried out by airfield and security experts and at no time will safety be compromised,” a spokesperson for Heathrow said. “Alongside drone detection capabilities, we will mitigate the impact of this illegal action and operate in a way that is safe at all times.”

A large police presence could be seen around the airport, with a dispersal order due to remain in place until 04:30 BST on Sunday.

On Thursday, police made seven pre-emptive arrests of activists from the Heathrow Pause group in charge of organising the protest including Roger Hallam, a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion.