By Sarah Lafen
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Europe
LONDON, England — Nine activists of Black Lives Matter UK (BLMUK) staged a protest on a runway of London City Airport in London last Tuesday. Protestors reportedly swam or traveled via a dinghy across the Thames River from a dock across from the airport in order to reach the runway. Once on the runway, the protestors constructed themselves into an interlocked tripod formation.
Flights at the airport were suspended until the protesters were arrested and removed from the runway. According to local police, the seven of the nine protestors were arrested on charges of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully airside, and for breaching the bylaws of the London City Airport. The remaining two protestors remained interlocked on the runway and continued to engage in negotiations with police officers.
BLMUK stated that London City Airport is planning to expand, which would likely impact the surrounding neighborhoods which are located in a highly deprived part of London. One reason given by BLMUK for the protest was to highlight the economic disparity between airport travelers and the people who live in the neighborhoods surrounding the airport. The activist group claims that the airport was “designed for the wealthy,” and compares the salaries of the average London City Airport user (€136,000) to the average population in the surrounding town of Newham (£20,000 or less).
In this same sense, BLMUK provides that the reason for the protest was to “highlight the environmental impact of air travel on the lives of black people locally and globally.” The group estimates that by 2020, there will be 200 million climate refuges across the world. They claim that in 2016, 3,176 migrants either died or went missing in the Mediterranean as a result of fleeing conditions they did not create because cheaper, easier, and safer avenues of travel have been blocked or ignored by the UK.
The protest aggravated many affected travelers at London City Airport. One traveler whose flight was delayed said she understood the purpose of the protest and the concerns surrounding it, but highlighted that there are other ways the group can get their point across without impacting “young families.” Another set of African American travelers recognizes that “many issues always affect the poorest in society…but it has stopped these two black lives from going on holiday.”
For more information, please see:
BBC — Black Lives Matter Protestors Close London City Airport Runway — 6 September 2016
The Guardian — Black Lives Matter Protest Stops Flight at London City Airport — 6 September 2016
