Plane Stupid Manchester Airport Action BBC News

Climate change protesters have cut through a perimeter fence at Manchester Airport in the UK and chained themselves to the wheels of an aircraft in protest against the planned expansion of the airport’s worldwide freight terminal.

The protest started at around 07:00 when six protesters gained access to the airfield by cutting a hole in the perimeter fence. A further group of around 10 protesters hoisted a banner reading ‘More air freight = more climate change – Stop all airport expansion now’ was raised by another group of around 10 protesters at the airport entrance. Luckily flights were only disrupted for about 20 minutes while security dealt with the intrusion.

The airport freight terminal currently processes around 170,000 tonnes of inbound and outbound freight every year. By 2015 the airport expects to increase that amount to around 250,000 tonnes per year.

A spokesperson for the environmental protest group Plane Stupid, who were responsible for the action, has said that the local-council owned airport has kept residents in the dark over plans to increase the freight handling capacity. The environmental campaigners claim that the proposed expansion makes no sense economically nor environmentally and that it is likely to mean that some people’s homes would be demolished The group say that the current freight handling capacity is under-utilised and that expanding this facility would act as a stepping stone toward expanding the airport as a whole, which would be an environmental disaster.

This latest action has come at a time when campaigners have claimed a victory after a high court judge has ordered a climate change review regarding the planned expansion of Heathrow airport.

The tactics employed by the Plane Stupid campaigners have received some criticism. The Plane Stupid action group are responsible for disrupting the travel plans of many thousands of people. The actions of this protest group have highlighted serious security issues at various British airports. Since it is apparently easy for a group of peaceful protesters to gain access to an aircraft can we be confident that others with more sinister intentions are not doing the same?

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