Climate change protester climbs on top of British Airways plane, forces flight delay
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Well, that’s certainly not something you see every day.
One man in the U.K., reportedly affiliated with environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion, was removed from the top of a British Airways plane in an alleged bid to protest the planet’s “climate emergency” in a stunt that one police officer described as a “reckless, stupid and dangerous.”
On Thursday, Paralympic medalist James Brown climbed atop a British Airways flight preparing for takeoff at London City Airport, The Independent reported and filmed the feat for social media. The man is said to have passed through airport security with a plane ticket and managed to surreptitiously summit the aircraft during boarding, according to the BBC.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Paralympic medalist James Brown climbed atop a British Airways flight preparing for takeoff at London City Airport, The Independent reports, and filmed the feat for social media. (SWNS)
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Brown, who is visually impaired, reportedly told the camera that though he was “scared of heights,” he was all-in on spreading awareness “about the climate and the ecological crisis.”
Facebook footage of the scene has since been viewed over 81,000 times to date on Facebook.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Extinction Rebellion praised Brown's actions on Twitter, saying, “Utterly selfless and incredibly brave. Well done James, we are all with you."
After airport staffers spent over an hour trying to coax Brown off the roof, three firemen eventually removed the activist from the plane with the help of cherry-picker, and police led him away, South West News Service (SWNS) and the Independent reported.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brown’s ploy successfully delayed more than one flight, as passengers on an adjacent aircraft were told that they also could not depart until the protester was removed, SWNS said.
A spokesperson for British Airways confirmed the turn of events to Fox News, explaining that they rebooked “affected customers onto alternative flights to Amsterdam so that they will all get to their destinations as quickly as possible.” (SWNS)
"My early understanding is somebody has been arrested after they presumably bought a ticket, went through security perfectly normally, went up the steps of a plane and hurled themselves on top of a plane,” Dame Cressida, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, told the BBC.
"That was a reckless, stupid and dangerous thing to do for all concerned,” she continued. "But I think you can see that it is quite a hard thing to predict or stop from happening."
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A spokesperson for British Airways confirmed the turn of events to Fox News, explaining that they rebooked “affected customers onto alternative flights to Amsterdam so that they will all get to their destinations as quickly as possible.”
Some Twitter users seized the moment to make light of the unbelievable stunt.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}About 50 people were arrested at London City Airport on Thursday in relation to the climate-change protests, the BBC said.