Black Lives Matter: London Protest Shuts Down Airport, Demonstrators Removed By Authorities [VIDEO]
Passengers at London City Airport were unceremoniously delayed on Tuesday after the U.K. branch of Black Lives Matter staged a protest in one of the airport's runways.
Erecting a tripod, the nine protesters who took part in the demonstration locked themselves together, prompting the intervention of the police. Police eventually removed the protesters from the runway. No injuries have been reported as of writing.
While protests by Black Lives Matter are quite frequent lately, it is the alleged reason behind the London City Airport demonstration that was rather odd. According to Joshua Virasami, who was one of the demonstrators, BLM U.K. opted to stage the protest in order to highlight the dangers of environmental dangers that black people face in the region.
"The community where this airport is a predominantly black community. In Britain, 28% of black people are more likely to be exposed to air pollution, being in closest proximity to the industries causing climate change," he said.
"The disruption to flights was a very small inconvenience when you think about the consequences for black communities daily."
While the protesters might be under the impression that the protest caused but a small inconvenience for passengers in the airport, many commuters felt otherwise. Hannah Moore, a passenger whose flight to Amsterdam was delayed, expressed her disappointment at what happened.
"It's chaos. There's a huge queue outside the airport. I managed to get in. We've been told to watch the boards. I have an important business meeting to attend in Amsterdam. I've told them I might not make it," she said.
Casey Collins, whose flight to Luxembourg was also delayed, stated that the protest caught the airport staff off-guard.
"The problem was that there was only two or three staff there. People were behaving themselves, they know it was not the airport's fault, but for a time it was a bit chaotic," he said.
