The 24 hours of direct action against climate change which began on Sunday 19th August at noon has culminated in a flurry of direct actions throughout England. As previously stated, none of the actions were intended to disrupt passengers, but instead, targeted the corporations who profit from climate chaos. Meanwhile, the mass siege of BAA national headquarters has forced its closure for the day. Pictures
During the week there have been over 71 arrests and a dozen actions, covering a broad range of issues.
Find below details of all the actions throughout the week…
Sunday the 19th and Monday the 20th August
Carbon offset companies were occupied by protesters dressed as red herrings. Fifteen have occupied the offices of Climate Care in Oxford. Ten have leafleted the offices of the Carbon Neutral Company in London. Carbon offsetting is a scheme allowing companies and consumers to pay in order to supposedly neutralize their carbon emissions. ‘Carbon offsets are ineffective, based on dubious science and lead people to believe they are helping when they are not – the concept and the practice are a con,’ said Sophie Nathan, who is taking part in the Carbon Neutral Company action.
Five protesters are in a concrete lock-on outside Sizewell A and B nuclear power stations. Their banner declares, ‘Nuclear power is not the answer to climate chaos.’ Twelve protesters have superglued themselves to the entrance at BP headquarters. They are highlighting BPs essential role in the aviation industry. Protester Stanley Owen said ‘We cannot sustain infinite growth on a planet with finite resources.’ Eighteen protesters occupied the office of the owners of Leeds airport, Bridgepoint Capital, on Warwick Street in London.
In Harmondsworth village a group of 500, consisting of locals as well as climate camp participants, gathered to listen John McDonnell Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington. He told the government that the third runway will not be built:
‘Even with the latest, more efficient aircraft, the climate change imperative demands that air travel growth be severely curtailed. The government can no longer have its cake and eat it. If it’s genuinely serious about climate change it must show meaningful leadership to rein in aviation expansion.’
Protesters wore copies of the Tyndall Report on their hands during the mass action, carrying a banner reading, ‘We are armed….only with peer-reviewed science’.
Late on Sunday evening, BA World Cargo depot was blockaded for about four and a half hours by eight protestors locked to each-other.
Saturday 18 August
Children and their parents blockade the World Freight Centre at Heathrow in protest at the damage to the climate caused by unnecessarily flying food around the world.
60 people occupy Carmel Agrexco’s Heathrow warehouse in Hayes, where produce is air freighted in from territories occupied by Israel, highlighting the issues of food miles and the unjust and unlawful distribution of natural resources in the Middle East.
Friday 17 August
The doors of six London travel agencies are chained shut and plastered with signs saying ‘Closed, gone to the Climate Camp.’ Ten people occupy the office of private charter company XL, which has a contract with the Home Office to deport rejected asylum seekers, exposing the connection between climate change and forced migration.
Activists superglue themselves to the front doors of the Department for Transport’s London headquarters. A tourist spontaneously joins the protest by chaining himself to the doors.
Thursday 16 August
Farnborough and Biggin Hill airports, both exclusively used by private executive jets, are blockaded by two teams of climate activists in disgust at the obscenity of the super-rich using planes as a taxi service.
Wednesday 13 August
A group of activists set up a climate camp on the wing of an Airbus A380 on its way to be assembled in France, pledging to stay until government ministers come up with a ‘safe’ aviation policy.
