CAMP for Climate Action protesters yesterday morning were still besieging British Airports Authority (BAA) head office at Heathrow Airport. Protesters were camped out under canvas shelters outside the buildings.
On Sunday night, police made arrests after a group of eight protesters from the Camp for Climate Action blockaded British Airways’ World Cargo Depot at Hatton Cross, just outside the Airport. The protesters blockaded vehicle access by locking themselves together in a ring with ‘arm tubes’. The blockade was organised by an independent group of activists who have been taking part in the Camp for Climate Action.
On Sunday, riot police armed with truncheons, and backed by mounted police, waded into peaceful protesters slowly marching from the Camp for Climate Action towards BAA headquarters. The march was part of the day of mass action which had been well publicised on Saturday. On-site medics have treated at least five people who sustained head injuries and one person who had been trodden on by a police horse.
Protesters said the fact that the majority of the corporate media had been covering the children’s demonstration at a separate location meant that the police could act with relative impunity in violently assaulting the protesters.
Despite the heavy-handed attack, around three hundred people managed to reach the BAA headquarters and proceeded to occupy the entrance and car park, stringing up banners denouncing the company.
Protesters said on Sunday that there were six confirmed arrests and six more that are currently unconfirmed. Sunday’s arrests brought the total of confirmed Climate Camp-related arrests to 56.
Meanwhile, activists who took part in a blockade and occupation of the Israeli importer Carmel-Agrexco in Hayes on Sunday have denied a smear by the company.
The group of 40-50 activists took part in the action in solidarity with the Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow Airport to highlight the Zionist oppression of the Palestinian people.
Campaigners said: ‘The Press Association wire ran an item on the blockade quoting Agrexco General Manager Amos Orr as saying that many of the protesters were “drunk” and were “singing about Hamas”. It is surprising that the Press Association ran this story without verifying the facts. Mr Orr’s claims are completely denied.’
Each activist was subjected to a search under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, a power which the police have been using widely to deal with activists from the Climate Camp. Such searches require the activists to be intimately searched by police officers, and no arrests were made for any alcohol related offences.
Campaigners added: ‘Bearing in mind the over-zealous manner in which the camp has been policed, Mr Orr should be able at the least to point to charges which substantiate the claim that protesters were drunk. In any event Mr Orr did not arrive until the protest was virtually over. Mr Orr goes on to say that protesters were “singing about Hamas”. This claim is absolutely denied by the activists involved.’
Protester Howard Jones said: ‘Orr’s comments are an attempt to smear campaigners. Those who attended the protest did so to highlight the damaging effects of air freighting of food and to show support for Palestinians who suffer under Israeli Occupation, and against the importation of produce from settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank.’
Camp For Climate Action spokesperson Troy Tate said: ‘The Climate Camp has been the victim of repeated attempts to smear campaigners. This is because those who are responsible for the root causes of climate change want to distract attention from the real issues.’
