24 arrested after service of remembrance for victims of climate change
-25/09/06
Twenty
24 arrested after service of remembrance for victims of climate change
-25/09/06
Twenty-four people have been arrested after holding a “service of remembrance” for the victims of climate change, led by a Baptist minister on the tarmac at Nottingham East Midlands Airport.
An airport spokesman said protesters sat on the taxiway between two cargo holds.
They were led by Reverend Malcolm Carroll.
Carroll is a Baptist minister living in Stafford. He is also an independent researcher and consultant in voluntary sector organisation and management who has previously spoken at Christian Ecology Link conferences on peaceful direct action.
The airport’s Ryan Martinez said it was a peaceful protest and the airport was operating as normal.
He added: “The police are obviously with them but it is peaceful. We haven’t had any flights come in or take off since they have been here but the airport is not closed at the moment.”
The group, calling themselves “Plane Stupid”, scaled the airport’s perimeter fence shortly before 8am on Sunday and staged the sit-in to highlight the effect aviation has on climate change, the group’s spokesman Joss Garman said.
“Aviation is the greatest contributor to climate change,” Mr Garman added.
“Reverend Carroll is leading a service of remembrance for the victims of climate change. The effects of aviation on the climate this century, if we don’t stop short-haul flights, will be catastrophic.
“According to the UN 150,000 people die every year from climate change. That is a 9/11 every week. The only reasonable solution is to stop short-haul flights.”
The group is part of the wider “Climate Camp” group, responsible for the recent protests at the Drax power station near Selby in North Yorkshire.
The airport’s operations were not been disrupted by the protest but police said later that 24 people were arrested after they refused to leave the airport.
The 17 men and seven women were detained for suspected offences under the Aviation Security Act shortly after midday ñ four hours after jumping the perimeter fence.
Reverend Malcolm Carroll first got involved in protest after being ‘bored’ at a church harvest festival, which involved thanking God for the weather, farmers, and local food with no reference to climate change which meant farmers in poorer countries had to deal with floods or droughts.
“For me, uncompromising but peaceful protest is the oxygen of democracy” Carroll told Greenpeace.
“We call the powerful to account.”
He was amongst more than 30 Greenpeace protesters arrested during a protest at the headquarters of Exxon Mobil in Irving, Texas, in 2003.
24 arrested after service of remembrance for victims of climate change
-25/09/06
Twenty-four people have been arrested after holding a “service of remembrance” for the victims of climate change, led by a Baptist minister on the tarmac at Nottingham East Midlands Airport.
An airport spokesman said protesters sat on the taxiway between two cargo holds.
They were led by Reverend Malcolm Carroll.
Carroll is a Baptist minister living in Stafford. He is also an independent researcher and consultant in voluntary sector organisation and management who has previously spoken at Christian Ecology Link conferences on peaceful direct action.
The airport’s Ryan Martinez said it was a peaceful protest and the airport was operating as normal.
He added: “The police are obviously with them but it is peaceful. We haven’t had any flights come in or take off since they have been here but the airport is not closed at the moment.”
The group, calling themselves “Plane Stupid”, scaled the airport’s perimeter fence shortly before 8am on Sunday and staged the sit-in to highlight the effect aviation has on climate change, the group’s spokesman Joss Garman said.
“Aviation is the greatest contributor to climate change,” Mr Garman added.
“Reverend Carroll is leading a service of remembrance for the victims of climate change. The effects of aviation on the climate this century, if we don’t stop short-haul flights, will be catastrophic.
“According to the UN 150,000 people die every year from climate change. That is a 9/11 every week. The only reasonable solution is to stop short-haul flights.”
The group is part of the wider “Climate Camp” group, responsible for the recent protests at the Drax power station near Selby in North Yorkshire.
The airport’s operations were not been disrupted by the protest but police said later that 24 people were arrested after they refused to leave the airport.
The 17 men and seven women were detained for suspected offences under the Aviation Security Act shortly after midday ñ four hours after jumping the perimeter fence.
Reverend Malcolm Carroll first got involved in protest after being ‘bored’ at a church harvest festival, which involved thanking God for the weather, farmers, and local food with no reference to climate change which meant farmers in poorer countries had to deal with floods or droughts.
“For me, uncompromising but peaceful protest is the oxygen of democracy” Carroll told Greenpeace.
“We call the powerful to account.”
He was amongst more than 30 Greenpeace protesters arrested during a protest at the headquarters of Exxon Mobil in Irving, Texas, in 2003.