Above Photo: A departure screen showing the extent of cancellations at London City airport. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
Dozens of flights cancelled as police struggle to remove group of white black rights activists from runway in east London
Nine activists who said they were from Black Lives Matter UK were arrested on Tuesday after storming the runway at London City airport and chaining themselves together in a six-hour protest that caused severe travel disruption.
Dozens of flights were cancelled or rescheduled at the airport, in Newham, east London, as police struggled to remove the group, who erected a wooden tripod on the runway and secured themselves to the structure as well as each other.
The Black Lives Matter group said the demonstration aimed to highlight the disproportionate impact air pollution had on black people in a wide-ranging press release that also cited the deteriorating environment in Newham, the wealthy clientele at London City airport, the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, the impact climate change has on sub-Saharan Africa and immigration deportations as motives behind the action.
There were chaotic scenes at the departure lounge of the airport near Canary Wharf, as a queue of passengers snaked through an adjacent DLR railway station, with some expressing their anger and confusion over the motive behind the protest. Applause broke out in the departure lounge when the conclusion of the protest was announced over a loudspeaker.
Prominent black rights activists accused the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK of “cultural appropriation” as it emerged all nine protesters on the runway were white, but it garnered support from environmental groups.
Black people are the first to die not the first to fly. This is why London City Airport has been #shutdown pic.twitter.com/HWvwNirerX
— #BlackLivesMatterUK (@ukblm) September 6, 2016
The Metropolitan police said all nine had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully airside and breaching the airport’s bylaws. In a statement, the Black Lives Matter group UK said: “The average salary of a London City airport user is €136,000 [£114,000] … It is an airport designed for the wealthy. At the same time, 40% of Newham’s population struggle to survive on £20,000 or less. “By 2020, there will be 200 million climate refugees globally. While at London City airport, a small elite is able to fly, in 2016 alone, 3,176 migrants are known to have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean, fleeing conditions that they did not create because cheaper, easier and most importantly, safer avenues have been blocked by the UK and other European countries. Black people are the first to die, not the first to fly, in this racist climate crisis.”
The activists reportedly swam or took a dinghy across a dock to reach the runway. The last protester on top of the tripod was removed when police used a mobile airline staircase to reach him. Black rights figures including Stafford Scott and Lee Jasper, a former equality adviser to Ken Livingstone, were publicly critical of the protest, accusing white, leftwing activists of hijacking the Black Lives Matter banner. “It’s cultural appropriation. Even our struggle no longer our own,” Jasper said on Twitter. But Friends of the Earth said the group was right to draw attention to the disproportionate impact air pollution has on ethnic minorities. Asad Rehman, a Friends of the Earth climate campaigner and Newham resident, said: “Air pollution disproportionately harms black and poorer communities, who are more likely to live in areas with poor air quality. Black Lives Matter UK are right to draw attention to this reality. The expansion of City airport is not compatible with our urgent need to reduce air pollution in London, nor our need to reduce global warming.” Departure information screens at City airport, which is popular with business travellers, showed a significant number of cancellations. Airline staff handed out water and chocolates to aggrieved passengers. Among the cancellations were flights to Geneva, Milan, Luxembourg, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Zürich, Florence, Mallorca and Málaga. Flights to Dublin and Frankfurt were showing “indefinite delays”.
@Trivium21c Its cultural appropriation. Even our struggle no longer our own.
— Mr Lee Jasper (@LeeJasper) September 6, 2016
Sarah Antoniou, 31, from London, was due to fly to Málaga on holiday with her husband and two children, a two-year-old and a five-month-old baby, but her 9am flight was cancelled. The family were rebooked on to a flight from Gatwick, about 26 miles away, at 6.40pm.
“It is difficult flying with children,” she said. “They’re going to spend the whole first day of their holiday travelling. I’m running out of bottles for their milk. I allowed for some delay.”
Antoniou said she understood the protest was against the expansion of the airport, but had little sympathy. “I understand the concerns, but there are other ways of making your point, which won’t impact on young families,” she said.
Today’s protest is an example of white allyship under black leadership
— #BlackLivesMatterUK (@ukblm) September 6, 2016
By 2050 there will be 200 million climate refugees. Black people are the first to die, not the first to fly, in this racist climate crisis.
— #BlackLivesMatterUK (@ukblm) September 6, 2016
Frank and Margaretta Bell were waiting for information about their delayed flight to the Isle of Man, where they were hoping to spend four days as part of an annual trip with friends.
Frank, 80, and Margaretta, 78, were unaware that the protest was organised by Black Lives Matter UK and understood it to be a demonstration against the treatment of refugees.
“We all care and feel about that,” Frank said. “At our age, this is a bit frustrating.”
Margaretta said: “They were taking a long time [removing the protesters] and someone said something about how human rights are involved in how they will be removed. What about the human rights of the people forced to wait in the airport for their flights?”
Black Lives Matter set up in the US following the killing of the black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida four years ago. Since then offshoot groups have emerged internationally.