Occupations, Parliamentary protests - and throwing green custard at Mandy... the mixed methods of the airport activists

A protester on the House of Commons

IT is a decade since Plane Stupid came together to protest at an aviation industry conference.

On that day, in September 2005, they released helium balloons with personal alarms up to the ceiling during the keynote speech by a senior British Airways executive.

Since then they boast of having occupied Stansted, East Midlands, and Aberdeen airports as well as shutting down easyJet and BAA’s headquarters.

Their protests have also stopped stopped private jets at Biggin Hill, London City and Edinburgh airports; while their activism reached new heights – literally – when members of the group evaded security to sit atop the House of Commons and the Scottish Parliament.

But they are not afraid of expanding their targets: In January 2008 30 protesters from Plane Stupid dressed as penguins took over the Natural History Museum’s ice rink in protest at British Airways sponsorship of the museum’s annual winter festivities saying that they were highlighting the irony of an airline creating an ice rink in central London, whilst its business activities are a major cause of global warming.

The group’s activists have even thrown green custard over Peter Mandelson.

The group claims to only use non-violent methods in their attempts to put forward its three stated demands:

• End to short haul flights and airport expansion

• Stop aviation advertising

• A just transition to sustainable jobs and transport

Plane Stupid has no leaders but encourages those who wish to protest under its banner to do so, only asking in return that would-be activists are ‘accountable, non violent and focusing on aviation expansion’.

Their methods have certainly not gone unnoticed, In March 2009 four protesters were arrested for breach of the peace after a banner drop from a multi-story carpark at Edinburgh Airport that read ‘Airport expansion is stupid’.

The following month The Guardian reported that Plane Stupid activist Matilda Gifford was subject to an attempt by Strathclyde Police to recruit her as a paid informer about the group.

There are currently active groups across the UK, in London, Glasgow, Brighton, Manchester, Southampton, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cambridge.

Photos courtesy of Plane Stupid