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Climate-Change Activists Plan to Disrupt Heathrow With Drones on Friday

Reuters

   LONDON - Climate-change activists plan todisrupt HeathrowAirport with
   drones on Friday morning, despitethe arrest of five of their members in
   a pre-emptive strike byLondon police.

   The Heathrow Pause group aims to ground flights by illegally
   flying drones withinfivekilometers (threemiles)of an airport, to put
   pressure on thegovernment to take tougher steps to reduce carbon
   emissions.

   Police arrested three men and two women from the group onThursday on
   suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisancein relation to
   operations at the airport.

   But Heathrow Pause said it would go ahead anyway.

   "The action will carry on exactly as planned, peacefully
   andnonviolently, regardless of today's events--we havecontingency
   measures in place," it said in a statement onThursday.

   Earlier this week, police said they were confident theaction would not
   lead to a repeat of the chaos seen at Gatwicklast December, when drone
   sightings grounded planes in therun-up to Christmas.

   But they warned that attempted disruption of the airport andflying
   drones without permission in the exclusion zone wereserious crimes.

   The activists say they are not looking to endanger life, andaim to
   conduct the action and alert authorities before theairport opens.

   Heathrow has said the demonstration is counterproductive
   and criminal, adding that despite talks between the two sides,the
   campaigners disagree with the airport's belief that aviationcan and
   should be decarbonized.

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