Extinction Rebellion protesters have been dragged out of London City Airport by police as their planned three day occupation begins.
The climate activists say plans to disrupt flights to and from the airport are the "biggest action" of their two week protest, which has seen them bring parts of central London to a standstill this week.
They began arriving at the airport at 9am today in protest against £2bn expansion plans.
Scores of activists sat down at the main entrance to the London City airport terminal, blocking the way for passengers arriving for flights.
A lone man climbed onto the roof of the airport and shouted: "Shut the airport down".
The group chanted “fly today, gone tomorrow” in unison, as members of the public struggled to get past with their suitcases.
Arrests are reported to have already been made outside the airport.
Video footage shows the first of the protesters being dragged out of the foyer by officers.
The airport is enforcing a strict entry policy of ticket and passport holders only.
In response the group have asked its members to buy one way tickets to gain entry into the airport.
If unable to occupy the foyer Extinction Rebellion have said that they will occupy the DLR and the road outside.
Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Rupert Read said: “London City Airport is planning to roughly double its numbers of flights. It is located in a highly built up area meaning that its flights cause a lot of noise-misery as well, of course, as climate-deadly pollution. It is used disproportionately by private jets and by financiers, businesspeople and other members of the polluter elite flying in and out of the City of London, when often they could do what they need just as well by using digital telecommunications.
"This has to stop and Extinction Rebellion are here to stop it.“
“If we the people are to have any chance at all of saving our civilisation from Climate and Ecological Collapse, we must first stop making things worse. Air travel is an icon of our fragile ‘just-in-time’ economic system. That system will break, as Climate Chaos hits. By non-violently shutting down this airport, in homage to the style of the Hong Kong democracy protesters, we are demonstrating the utter frailty of the transport systems that countries such as ours, unwisely, have come to depend upon.”
Flights appear to be operating normally for the moment.
A spokesman for the airport said: “We can confirm that a number of protesters have arrived at London City Airport.
“We continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to ensure the safe operation of the airport, which remains fully open and operational.
“As of 9.15am there have been over 60 flights which have either arrived or departed.
“If you are flying from London City today, please check the status of your flight with your airline before travelling to the airport.”
Meanwhile, the police have had mixed success in other parts of London.
In Westminster, tents and protesters had been cleared away from the roads leading into Parliament Square.
But the streets around Parliament and Whitehall remained closed to traffic, apart from cyclists, amid a heavy police presence in the area.
At Trafalgar Square, tents, banners with messages such as “this is change” and a hearse still blocked the roads, and a protest camp occupied the pedestrian area of the square.
More protesters were camped with dozens of tents in nearby St James’s Park.
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