London City Airport announced that its runway is closed due to protesters on site.
“Police are present and we will resume normal operations as soon as possible”, the airport said in a statement.
The demonstrators say they have “shut down London City Airport to protest the UK’s environmental impact on black people”.
Police said the nine protesters from Black Lives Matter UK locked themselves together and erected a tripod on the runway, while it has been reported that they bypassed security and reached the airport by using a rubber dinghy to cross the docks.
(Photo credit: Black Lives Matter UK)
Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and racism toward black people.
Cityjet said as a result of the incident it has had, along with other carriers at the airport, to suspend flights to and from London City Airport.
CityJet is operating a limited number of services from Dublin and Amsterdam to London Southend Airport, with complimentary rail connection to London, to facilitate passengers disrupted by the actions at London City Airport.
A CityJet spokesperson said:
“We very much regret the disruption to our customers’ travel plans as a result of this incident. We would hope to have flights return to normal as soon as practicable. We remain in constant contact with the authorities and management at London City Airport. Once we are in a position to resume our normal flights we will inform our customers.”
Shortly after noon the airport announced that the runway has been reopened.
“We aim to resume normal operations as soon as possible”, the airport said.