Police lead some of the protestors away
Posted on 02/27/2008 6:28:50 AM PST by BGHater
Protesters have raised serious security concerns by staging a demonstration on the roof of the Houses of Parliament today.
The five activists from campaign group Plane Stupid unfurled two huge banners - one saying "No Third Runway", and the other, in a reference to airport operator BAA, read "BAA Headquarters".
The protest, which could raise questions about security, came on the final day of the Government's consultation on expanding Heathrow airport, including a third runway.
The campaigners described it as "fairly simple" getting into Parliament and evading checks - even stopping for a coffee in the cafe before taking a lift upstairs.
The three men and two women from climate action opened an outside door before walking along the roof and dropping two banners.
Scotland Yard said in a statement: "At this early stage we believe there is a strong possibility the protesters are guests of pass-holders."
The protesters said they were making paper aeroplanes out of confidential Whitehall documents reveal the process was "fixed" in BAA's favour.
Plane Stupid say the documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, suggest BAA wrote parts of the consultation document and that the government has already decided to build a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow.
Roof protester Richard George, 27, said: "The democratic process has been corrupted.
"The aviation industry has taken full advantage of a weak Prime Minister to get the Heathrow consultation fixed.
"It doesn't even consider global warming, despite everything Gordon Brown has said about the environment and despite the massive impact that aviation has on the climate.
"This Prime Minister doesn't even have the courage to ask Londoners the very simple question, do you want a third runway?
"Instead his government published a consultation document full of gobbledygook and industry spin."
The proposals could increase the number of flights from 480,000 a year to at least 702,000.
Matthew Knowles, spokesman for the Society of British Aerospace Companies, said: "These stunts are becoming tiresome and do nothing more than peddle inaccurate propaganda.
"The aviation industry has achieved a 75% cut in fuel burn over the past 50 years and a similar reduction in noise from aircraft in the past 30 years."
The rooftop occupation comes two days after Greenpeace protesters scaled an Airbus A320 which had just touched down at Heathrow from Manchester.
They misspelled plain stupid in the web address on that banner.
Too bad none of them fell and broke their necks. Frankly, I can’t understand how the hell they got up there to begin with. Nice security.
It’s a deliberate misspelling (aeroplane = plane)....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.