Man climbs on roof of London City Airport, shouts 'shut this airport down'

A man has climbed onto the roof at London City Airport on Thursday. He shouted, “shut this airport down!” The man took a flying jump up onto the platform and sprinted across in seconds. The security guard tried to grab him but he was too fast.

London City Airport was braced for disruption on Thursday after climate-change protesters Extinction Rebellion vowed to occupy its terminal and shut down operations for three days as part of its action in the British capital.

The officials from the airport said in a tweet, "We can confirm that a number of protesters have arrived at the airport. We continue to work with @metpoliceuk to ensure the safe operation of the airport, which remains fully open & operational. As of 0915, there have been over 60 flights that have either arrived or departed."

London City is the capital's fifth-biggest - and the most central - airport, popular with business travelers, bankers, and politicians for short-haul and regional routes.

Breaking: A man’s just climbed onto the roof at London City Airport. He shouts “shut this airport down!” @LBC pic.twitter.com/ZAVQ7ah8oV

— Rachael Venables (@rachaelvenables) October 10, 2019

Extinction Rebellion, which has targeted government buildings over the last few days, said protesters would lie, sit or glue themselves to "nonviolently use their bodies to close the airport."

They said they were protesting plans to expand the airport, which aims to have 6.5 million passengers a year by 2022, compared to the 4.8 million in 2018, and which has said there could be demand for as many as 11 million a year by 2035. "Air travel is an icon of our fragile 'just-in-time' economic system. That system will break, as Climate Chaos hits," group spokesman Rupert Read said in a statement.