Eco-zealots block Gatwick Airport after revealing plot of disruption
This is the moment Just Stop Oil eco nuisances blocked Gatwick Airport’s departures and forced passengers to awkwardly step over them to catch their flights.
At around 8am, seven of the activists entered the Southern terminal and used suitcases with lock-on devices to block the departure gates.
Video footage shows families laden with heavy bags clutching their children’s hands as they try to clamber past the activists.
Those sitting on the floor look on impassively as the young children are forced to climb over the blockade – with huge queues forming behind.
JSO says it is working with groups internationally to demand governments establish a fossil fuel treaty, to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
The chaos began last Wednesday, when militant activists forced planes to remain grounded in Germany.
They vowed to use ‘all means necessary’ to target millions of families planning well-earned getaways across the continent.
At around 8am, seven of the activists entered the Southern terminal at Gatwick
Just Stop Oil ‘s eco-clowns have blocked Gatwick Airport departures today
Activists from Just Stop Oil Sat and blocked the departures gate at Gatwick Airport
JSO targeted the South Terminal in the latest in their ongoing campaign of disruption
Commenting below the video, most social media users mocked the attempt as not being effective and just being a ‘waste of time’.
‘Not really blocked if people are stepping over them,’ one wrote, with another branding it ‘pathetic’.
A third added: ‘Despicable, kids and families going on holiday.’
The ‘Oil Kills international uprising’ has been causing havoc at airports around the world.
As part of the disruptive campaign, 21 groups across 12 countries have taken action at 17 airports so far.
Along with JSO, other groups include Letzte Generation Germany, Folk Mot Fossilmakta and Scientist Rebellion in Norway, XR Finland, Futuro Vegetal in Spain, Drop Fossil Subsidies and Act Now – Liberate in Switzerland, Letzte Generation Austria, Extinction Rebellion and Scientists Rebellion in Sweden.
The activists have been bashed on social media, with some branding it ‘pathetic’
The ‘Oil Kills international uprising’ has been causing havoc at airports around the world
Shortly after 8am, activists from Just Stop Oil Sat and blocked the departures gate
Long queues gathered at the departures gate because of the obstruction
It comes after 10 Just Stop Oil activists appeared in court charged with conspiring to disrupt Heathrow Airport on Wednesday.
The activists were arrested as part of ‘an intelligence-led policing operation at airports across Europe’.
All 10 were arrested either at Heathrow Airport or in the vicinity and were charged this afternoon with conspiracy to interfere with key national infrastructure under Section 7 of the Public Order Act 2003.
They appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court where eight were remanded in custody.
While the disruption was minimal at Heathrow, eleven activists in Switzerland have blocked main roads around both Zurich and Geneva airport.
Shocking scenes in Rome saw people throwing orange paint in Terminal 3, while the departure time of a plane at the airport was delayed due to activist disruption.
Five eco activists in Spain accessed the taxiway at Barcelona airport but were intercepted before they could take action.
JSO says it is working with groups internationally to demand a fossil fuel treaty
The scene at Gatwick shortly after 8am this morning after JSO revealed a plot to disrupt holidaymakers at UK airports
A German climate activist group that caused flight cancellations at Cologne-Bonn airport by gluing themselves to the runway said similar disruptions to push for an end to fossil fuels were planned over the next few weeks globally.
‘That was just the beginning today. Over the next few weeks we will repeat this in Germany, Europe and globally,’ a member of the Last Generation activist group said in a media briefing.
Officers at Heathrow swooped in before the activists gained any unauthorised entry to the airport or the airfield, it is understood, saving passengers travelling on their summer holidays from facing disruption.
One of those taking action this morning is Mel Carrington, 63, a mother and former environmental consultant from Dorset, who said: ‘We’ve just had the hottest three days on earth in recorded history and possibly for hundreds of thousands of years.
‘Innocent people around the world already face extreme weather and deadly heat and no one is prepared for the societal collapse that unchecked global heating will bring.
‘I’m terrified of what it will mean for my family and friends when there are widespread crop failures, food shortages and economic meltdowns. It will mean the breakdown of law and order, the end of the NHS and the loss of everything we depend on.’
‘We need a global emergency plan to rapidly phase out fossil fuels. Our government must work with other countries and commit to signing a legally binding fossil fuel treaty to phase out oil, gas and coal by 2030 – and it must support poorer countries to get off fossil fuels too.’
Also taking action is Greg Sculthorpe a mathematician from Doncaster, who said: ‘I can’t bear to stand back and watch millions dying because the rich and powerful prefer to protect their wealth and status, than the lives of ordinary people.’
‘Ordinary people have no choice but to fight to defend our families, as we pass every safe threshold that risks triggering irreversible feedback loops, leading us towards a hothouse earth where millions are displaced.
‘We need an emergency fossil fuel treaty to phase down fossil fuels by 2030.’
