Emma Thompson 'wants to be arrested at Extinction Rebellion protest' - after flying from LA to take part

Dame Emma Thompson joined climate protesters in London on Thursday to declare that she wants to be among those demonstrators arrested by police.

However, it has emerged that the Oscar winning British actress was photographed a day earlier arriving at Heathrow Airport after apparently flying from Los Angeles where it is believed she had been celebrating her 60th birthday.

The Extinction Rebellion group, which is calling for flights to be used only in emergencies, insisted that any flight she had taken  was an “unfortunate cost in our bigger battle to save the planet”.

It is estimated that a single 5,456-mile transatlantic flight between Los Angeles and London Heathrow would run up a three tonne carbon footprint. On Thursday, her London agent failed to say whether she took part in any carbon offsetting schemes - such as planting trees.

Dame Emma, who lives in Hampstead, north London, wore dungarees, looked tanned as she made victory V symbols with both hands while being filmed at the protesters’ base in Marble Arch.

The multi-millionaire star of films including Much Ado About Nothing and Sense and Sensibility said she had been unable to join the start of the “direct action” campaign on Monday because she had been celebrating her birthday with husband and fellow actor, Greg Wise. She did not reveal the location of her celebrations.

In the short clip, she said: “Hello fellow humans. I wasn't here on the 15th of April, I was with my husband because I just turned 60.

“I absolutely wanted to be arrested on my 60th birthday but I haven't quite managed that, I bet that will happen in the future.”

Dame Emma has been a prominent Left-wing and environmental campaigner for many years. The Greenpeace supporter helped buy land near Heathrow Airport in an attempt to deter the building of a third runway. In 2015 she joined activists outside Shell headquarters as part of a campaign to stop drilling in the Arctic.

Speaking to protesters on the day they announced plans to disrupt Heathrow Airport, she said: “I am so proud and thrilled to be part of Extinction Rebellion, the new movement that has come up behind all the old ones that I've been part of since I was 16 years old.

“A movement that's telling it like it is and saying to Government that 'look, there's no more time and you can't lie and you can't stall any longer. And we will occupy until you take action. That is the only way we are going to save our planet'.”

She added: “It's hard, it's inconvenient for people sometimes but it's much more inconvenient to leave a planet that's so destroyed that our grandchildren will be up against things that we cannot even imagine."

An Extinction Rebellion spokesman said: “If Emma Thompson wants to come and help out, that's great, she's using her platform which is incredibly valuable to anyone.

“If she has to fly around the world like a climate lawyer might have to fly around the world, it seems counter productive in the short term but we are looking at the bigger picture.”