At least five arrested day before planned action to disrupt flights in and out of airport

At least five activists from a group planning to use drones to disrupt flights in and out of Heathrow airport have been pre-emptively arrested.

Roger Hallam, a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, and Mike Lynch-White, who were planning to pilot drones in the exclusion zone around Heathrow on Friday, were arrested at a cafe in Bethnal Green, east London, according to a statement from the Heathrow Pause group.

Shortly afterwards, Heathrow Pause’s press liaison officer was arrested as he spoke to the Guardian on the telephone. He indicated that two others had also been arrested.

A number of activists are believed to still be planning to take action. In the early hours of Friday morning, a live stream was shared on a Heathrow Pause Twitter account, showing two people struggling to get a drone off the ground. The device could be seen flashing red and green lights, but did not make it into the air.

However, planes began flying in and out of the airport shortly after 5am on Friday.

The Metropolitan police later confirmed three men and two women had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in relation to operations at Heathrow airport.

The deputy assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “Our policing plan is aimed at preventing criminal activity which poses a significant safety and security risk to the airport, and the thousands of passengers that will be using it. We have warned previously that arrests would be made if this activity continued.



“In these circumstances, we believe these arrests to be a proportionate response to preventing criminal activity that could significantly impact on a major piece of national infrastructure.



“We remain fully prepared for the planned protest tomorrow, and will work quickly to identify criminal activity and arrest anyone committing offences.”

A statement from Heathrow Pause said: “Prospective drone pilots Roger Hallam and Mike Lynch-White have just been pre-emptively arrested and we caught it all on film. The pair were just concluding an interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel at Billy’s Cafe in Bethnal Green when four police cars pulled up. Officers handcuffed the Pause activists, placed them in separate cars and drove them away.”

Before he was arrested, Hallam told the Guardian: “The proposed third runway expansion agreed by the government will provide another few years of business as usual – until everything collapses. It happens to be the largest carbon intensive project in Europe … But rich westerners are worth it, right?”

He went on: “This, then, is what the climate emergency means. An emergency. A question of life or death. A question of extinction – everyone gone for ever. The only appropriate response now is rebellion. This means demanding an immediate cancellation of the third runway at Heathrow. Stop this planned monstrosity and we will stop flying drones.

“We are in a ‘time of consequences’ as Churchill called it, in response to the Nazi threat in 1936. The consequence of not rebelling is indescribable suffering and death for billions of people. The consequence of rebellion is a chance to avoid the worst. Rebellion means mass economic disruption and deep personal sacrifice. I am a rebel. That’s why I am flying drones at Heathrow.”