(London) After the prehistoric site of Stonehenge, the environmental group Just Stop Oil, with controversial methods of action, targeted private jets on the tarmac of Stansted International Airport, near London, on Thursday, hoping to find the Taylor Swift’s plane.
Around 5 a.m. (12 a.m. Eastern time), two activists, aged 22 and 28, cut through the fence of this busy airport, northeast of the British capital, without being disturbed, to enter the area where Many private planes are parked.
Once they entered, the activists sprayed two planes with bombs filled with orange paint before being arrested.
Just Stop Oil claimed that one of the planes parked in the area was that of American star Taylor Swift, who is due to perform in London on Friday and this weekend and has already been criticized for traveling by private jet.
But if according to Just Stop Oil his plane was at the airport a few hours earlier, he was not there at the time of the intrusion, the police said.
Two years ago, even before his monumental “Eras” tour began, the marketing agency Yard listed him as the “most polluting celebrity of the year,” with 170 thefts in seven months.
Essex Police said the activists were arrested within minutes of entering the site. “The airport and flights are operating normally.”
They are suspected of “criminal damage and obstruction of the use or operation of national infrastructure”, it is indicated in its press release.
In a press release from Just Stop Oil, one of the activists arrested Thursday castigated “billionaires who live in luxury and have the means to fly in private jets, without worrying about the living conditions” of millions of people affected by the consequences of the climate crisis.
“Passengers using private jets are responsible for 14 times more CO2 emissions than those on a commercial flight,” the environmental group added.
Just Stop Oil calls for an end to the exploitation of fossil fuels by 2030. Its spectacular and controversial actions, particularly in museums, during sports competitions or during shows, regularly earn its activists prison sentences. prison.
On Thursday, two octogenarians must appear before a London court for having damaged in May the display case protecting a copy of the Magna Carta, the founding text of modern democracy, exhibited at the British Library in London.
They were charged with “criminal damage” and released on bail pending this hearing.
On Wednesday, activists sprayed paint, made from corn starch, on the monoliths of the prehistoric site Stonehenge, known for its standing stones forming a set of mysterious circles.
Wiltshire Police arrested two people “on suspicion of damaging the monument”, and the action was condemned by British politicians across the spectrum, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Labor rival Keir Starmer.
The outgoing conservative government, with strong winds against the punchy actions of Just Stop Oil, has tightened the law governing the right to demonstrate in an attempt to prevent the actions of these activists in recent years, without much success.
The director of the English Heritage association, which manages the site, told the BBC on Thursday that there appeared to be “no visible damage” to the monoliths, which were cleaned directly after the activists’ action.
The latter is “difficult to understand, and we are deeply saddened by this vandalism,” added Nick Merriman. He also specified that the site was open to the public from Thursday and Friday for the solstice.
The famous ensemble is aligned with the axis of the sun during the solstices and the event attracts thousands of curious people and neo-druids every year on June 21.
