No Heathrow block Parliament Square
Parliament Square, London. Fri 22 Jun 2018
Protesters, including some of the hunger strikers, meet up in Parliament
Square
The hunger strike outside the Labour Party HQ is on day 14
At 6.45pm, Roger Hallam leads the protesters on to the road at the
crossing, and they sit down on the road
Police immediately come and try to persuade them to move
People unroll the banner
and hold it in front of the protesters 'Vote No 2 Heathrow' and NO2
is a major air pollutant from the planes using
Heathrow and the traffic it generates. Another runway will lead to
more pollution. Already London is well above
the EU limits and Heathrow expansion will increase the number of premature
deaths because of air pollution,
already almost 9,000 premature deaths each year.
Police officers talk to Roger and the other protesters, telling them
they are obstructing the highway and could
be arrested. The protesters of course are aware of this, and tell
the police they should be sitting down to.
Air pollution is a crime that kills almost 10,000 a year in London,
far more than murders and knife crime - so
what do the police intend to do about it?
Some of the police are clearly sympathetic, but their orders prioritise
traffic movement above almost anything else.
The protesters tell them that this is a national emergency - but the
government want to expand Heathrow despite
the criminal cost in lives, and the global warming it will accelerate.
The police are probably not too worried about the block, as road works
outside Westminster Abbey mean that
the road there is closed going towards Victoria, and they can easily
direct traffic to avoid it getting blocked by
this protest.
After half and hour Roger Hallam gets up and invites others to end
their protest too - and they all leave the road
and Roger jokes with the police.
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