Demonstrators at Heathrow protest airport expansion
Jul 13, 2015, 4:00 AM
LONDON (AP) — Police removed climate change activists at London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday after the demonstrators breached the perimeter fence to stage a protest on the northern runway.
About a dozen protesters from the group Plane Stupid entered the runway at 3:30 a.m. (0230 GMT Monday; 10:30 p.m. EDT Sunday) to challenge plans to expand Europe’s largest airport. All had been removed, the airport said in a statement.
An independent commission concluded earlier this month that building a third runway at Heathrow would be the best way to give Britain the additional aviation capacity it says is urgently needed. Environmental activists are outraged by the results of the three-year study, saying that a new runway will make air quality worse and exacerbate climate change.
Heathrow is urging people traveling to check with the airlines before departure, even though the protest is over. Both runways remained open.
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