Would-be protestors at Heathrow Airport who sought to bring flight chaos to thousands this morning have posted a humiliating video online showing airport jamming technology is preventing them flying drones.
Heathrow Pause, which is affiliated to the Extinction Rebellion group which brought London’s streets to a standstill in April, announced they would fly incursions into the hub airport’s no-fly zone.
But in a video broadcast live on social media at around at around 3am today the silhouette of a man can be seen holding a little plastic drone aloft and saying: ”There is no drone flying, only drone posing.’
He adds that he thinks jamming technology is being used.
Police arrested two men this morning at the perimeter of the airport.
No plane flights are believed to have been affected by the attempted protest.
In a video recorded in the pitch-black and broadcast at 3am the German’accented protestor can be seen repeatedly trying and failing to fly his drone
Meanwhile police have implemented an exclusion zone under laws designed to combat antisocial behaviour.
The Metropolitan Police said they had issued a dispersal order under Section 34 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 which has been implemented in the area surrounding Heathrow Airport.
It will be in place for approximately 48 hours, and came into force at 04.30am today.
The order has been implemented to prevent criminal activity which poses a significant safety and security risk to the airport.
It gives police the power to arrest people in the area who do not move on when asked.
MailOnline has enhanced the footage posted to Twitter which reveals the protestor holding the flightless drone above his head
In the video the man holding the drone holds it aloft and shows it won’t fly, the rotors don’t turn
At 5.50am the Met announced it had arrested two men on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance in relation to operations at Heathrow Airport, within the perimeter of the airport.
Earlier this week, a senior Metropolitan officer said advised Heathrow passengers to travel as normal and said they were ‘confident’ disruption would be kept to a minimum.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: ‘We will be arresting anybody who commits unlawful offences.
‘We are really clear that it is unlawful, it is a criminal offence, and anybody who turns up expecting to fly drones in that exclusion zone will be arrested.’
The Metropolitan Police have acted swiftly against planned protests, putting a dispersal zone in place around Heathrow Airport allowing them to arrest anyone who doesn’t move away
Yesterday police arrested five people, including the Extinction Rebellion founders, over the plot to cause disruption at Heathrow tomorrow – but organisers said the protest will still go ahead.
Roger Hallam, the founder of the environmental campaign group, and fellow campaigner Mike Lynch-White, allegedly planned to fly in the exclusion zone around Heathrow on Friday.
They were both arrested at a cafe in Bethnal Green, east London, yesterday according to a splinter group of Extinction Rebellion called Heathrow Pause.
Met Police have confirmed that two men were arrested in Bethnal Green, east London and two women and one man were arrested, in Highgate, north London.
Despite the arrests, Heathrow Pause claimed their plan to fly drones in the 5km exclusion zone around Britain’s biggest airport today would continue, potentially causing misery for passengers.
Gatwick – Britain’s second busiest airport – was shut for 33 hours in December last year, disrupting 140,000 passengers’ journeys in the week before Christmas after drones were spotted.
Plain clothes officers speak to and arrest Roger Hallam, pictured in the plaid shirt, outside a cafe in Bethnal Green this afternoon
Roger Hallam, a co-founder of the Extinction Rebellion group, being arrested in Bethnal Green, east London, on Thursday afternoon over plans to fly drones near Heathrow Airport
Mike Lynch-White, pictured, is also arrested by officers this afternoon and taken to a police station
Despite the arrests today Heathrow Pause have tweeted saying they are still planning their drone protest tomorrow
A police officer uses binoculars to look out from the roof of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport today, where activists from Heathrow Pause, a splinter of the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion, are planning to fly toy drones early tomorrow morning
In a tweet they said: ‘The action will carry on exactly as planned, peacefully and non-violently, regardless of today’s events.
‘We thanks everyone for their support. With Love and Courage, Heathrow Pause. We have contingency measures in place. Thank you, Heathrow Pause.’
Video footage shows Mr Hallam and Mr Lynch-White being handcuffed by plainclothes officers and put into the back of unmarked vehicles this afternoon.
The three men and two women, aged between their 20s and 50s, were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance, police confirmed.
They have been taken to a London police station.
A neighbour of one of the individual’s arrested at Highgate this afternoon said there was a heavy police presence, and he could see a drone sitting in the back garden.
Sacha Varma, 44, said: ‘There was a heavy police presence, and a drone sat in the back garden
‘Outside the house was a dog unit and then around eight police officers at the front of the house.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: ‘We have carried out these arrests today in response to proposed plans for illegal drone use near Heathrow Airport which protest group Heathrow Pause have said will take place tomorrow morning’
‘Then around four of five officers stood in the back garden and a further two of three down the road, as well as a helicopter going overhead.’
When the property developer was asked if he supported the police action today he said ‘absolutely.’
He added: ‘I think it is detrimental and inconvenient to the public, and they are not achieving anything with this protest.’
A meeting was held between Heathrow Pause activists and the police force earlier this week to discuss Friday’s action.
The Met previously reassured passengers that it is working hard to minimise any potential disruption.
Earlier this week, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor vowed that the protest would not be a ‘repeat’ of the drone disruption at Gatwick Airport last winter.
He said: ‘I’m very confident that we have taken the learning from Gatwick. The aviation industry and national policing has been working to look at measures to mitigate those issues that we saw at Gatwick, and I’m confident in the tactics that we’ve got in place that we won’t see a repeat of what we saw at Gatwick.’
Mr Taylor previously warned that ‘endangering the safety of an aircraft can result in a life sentence.’
Police officers stand in the back garden after arresting one of the alleged protesters
This afternoon the climate group asked people to ‘please stand with us’ and that we all have to ‘rise up’
The campaign group also tweeted a video showing the arrest of Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam
Climate change activists rally at Oxford Circus in central London on April 18. A number of areas of central London were shut down by climate activists during that month
Heathrow Pause had planned to fly drones in the 5km exclusion zone around Britain’s biggest airport on Friday
An array of anti-drone technology helped to reopen Gatwick Airport in December 2018 after almost 36 hours of chaos
Despite the arrests, Heathrow Pause has claimed their plan to fly drones in the 5km exclusion zone around Britain’s biggest airport on Friday, will continue, potentially causing misery for passengers (stock image)
In a series of tweets today Heathrow Pause asked for support from the public.
In one they said: ‘This is to activists, rebels and ordinary people erywhere (sic). Please stand with us. Don (sic) let our planet and chidren die.
‘We all have to rise up. If we are all arrested before we can stop this horrendous project then please continue where we left off. Much love.
The campaign group previously said it has ‘no choice’ but to carry out the action and invited the Prime Minister to join the protest.
Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion who wants to ‘bring down all the regimes in the world and replace them’
British environmental activist and Extinction Rebellion co-founder, Roger Hallam, 52, is a veteran demonstrator who is researching a PhD in effective radical campaigning.
He became interested in climate change in his 40s when an organic farm he ran in Wales went bankrupt because of extreme weather conditions.
Mr Hallam went on hunger strike in 2017 to demand King’s College London stop investing in fossil fuels.
British environmental activist and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion Roger Hallam speaks during a meeting at Filmtheater Kriterion in Amsterdam, on August 10, 2019
His stated ambition for the group is to ‘bring down all the regimes in the world and replace them’, starting with Britain.
In a video on YouTube, he said protesters should be ready to cause disruption through personal ‘sacrifice’. If necessary, they ‘should be willing to die’.
Mr Hallam said in the past: ‘You need about 400 to go to prison and you need two to three thousand people to get arrested.’
During the London protests in April this year, he insisted: ‘No-one wants to get arrested. I want to get back to my farm. I’m just a poor farmer, nothing special.’
He added: ‘We aren’t throwing stones or shouting. People are coming in to central London and sitting down. We are causing disruption and it’s justified.’
Mr Hallam has also claimed paralysing traffic will eventually cause food shortages and trigger uprisings.
It said: ‘The current Prime Minister is on record for saying his opposition to Heathrow expansion is so profound that he would ‘lie down in front of the bulldozers’.
‘We invite Boris Johnson to join us in flying a drone and showing his commitment to stopping Heathrow expansion and addressing the climate and ecological emergency.’
Climate change activists have held a number of disruptive protests this year.
Most notable was the shutdown of a number of sites in central London in April by Extinction Rebellion, including Oxford Circus and Waterloo Bridge.
One of the people arrested today, Roger Hallam, 52, is the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, who is currently researching for a PhD in effective radical campaigning.
He became interested in climate change in his 40s when an organic farm he ran in Wales went bankrupt because of extreme weather conditions.
His stated ambition for the group is to ‘bring down all the regimes in the world and replace them’, starting with Britain.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, said: ‘We have carried out these arrests today in response to proposed plans for illegal drone use near Heathrow Airport which protest group Heathrow Pause have said will take place tomorrow morning.
‘Our policing plan is aimed at preventing criminal activity which poses a significant safety and security risk to the airport, and the thousands of passengers that will be using it. We have warned previously that arrests would be made if this activity continued.
‘In these circumstances, we believe these arrests to be a proportionate response to preventing criminal activity that could significantly impact on a major piece of national infrastructure.
‘We remain fully prepared for the planned protest tomorrow, and will work quickly to identify criminal activity and arrest anyone committing offences.’
A Heathrow spokesman said: ‘Flying a drone within 5km of Heathrow is illegal and any persons found doing so will be subject to the full force of the law.’
He added: ‘We agree with the need to act on climate change but driving change requires constructive engagement and action.
‘Committing criminal offences and disrupting passenger journeys is counterproductive and irresponsible.’
Dr Gail Bradbrook, another co-founder or Extinction Rebellion, told the BBC: ‘As we continue to breech ecological tipping points I believe we will look back on these times and wonder why more people weren’t willing to take actions to peacefully close down climate wrecking infrastructure.’
Shocking test footage shows a drone bursting a grapefruit-sized hole in an aircraft’s wing
This shocking footage shows the potential danger posed by a small drone if it crashes into a passenger jet by puncturing a hole in the aircraft’s wing.
Experts from the University of Dayton Research Institute’s Impact Physics lab simulated a collision between a drone and an aircraft wing under test conditions.
The footage shows the drone punch through the outer skin of the aircraft’s wing as it disintegrates.
Experts at the University of Dayton Research Institute’s Impact Physics Lab simulated the damage caused by a drone involved in a high-speed collision with an aircraft wing
The footage showed the drone breaks up on impact put it punctures a hole in the aircraft’s outer skin, pictured
Experts fear that even an impact between a small drone and a passenger aircraft could lead to a catastrophe
Such an impact on take off or landing could potentially lead to serious control issues endangering the safety of the aircraft and those on the ground.
The drone appears to punch a grapefruit-sized hole into the wing – into an area many aircraft use to carry part of their fuel supply.
A drone hit a small charter plane in Canada in 2017; it landed safely. In another incident that same year, a drone struck a U.S. Army helicopter in New York but caused only minor damage.
Mexican authorities are investigating reports that a Boeing 737-800 was struck by a drone while on approach to Tijuana airport in December 2018.
Photographs taken after the passenger jet safely landed show extensive damage to the aircraft’s nose cone which houses some of its radar equipment.
Airline pilot Patrick Smith of askthepilot.com said: ‘This has gone from being what a few years ago what we would have called an emerging threat to a more active threat.
‘The hardware is getting bigger and heavier and potentially more lethal, and so we need a way to control how these devices are used and under what rules.’
A Boeing 737-800, pictured, suffered damage to its nose on approach to Tijuana airport in December 2018 from a suspected drone
Mechanics were forced to remove seconds of the aircraft’s nose cone which was damaged shortly before landing
Officials were trying to confirm whether the damage was caused by a drone or where another object such as a bird hit the jet
John Cox, former airline pilot and now a safety consultant warned drones posed a greater threat to smaller aircraft and helicopters but could cause problems with a passenger jet.
In a small aircraft the drone could smash through the windscreen into the pilot’s face. It could also be sucked into an aircraft’s engine or damage the rotor of a helicopter.
Mr Cox said: ‘On an airliner, because of the thickness of the glass, I think it’s pretty unlikely, unless it’s a very large drone.’
A study by the US Federal Aviation Authority warned drones posed a greater risk than birds to aircraft as the drones carried batteries and motors which could cause more damage than a bird’s bones.
Marc Wagner, CEO of Drone Detection Sys in Switzerland said jamming systems could disrupt a drone, but such technology is illegal in Britain.
He said Dutch police trained eagles to swoop down on drones and knock them out of the sky near aerodromes or large concerts, but the program was ended as the birds did not always follow orders.
According to Wagner: ‘The only method is to find the pilot and to send someone to the pilot to stop him.’
British authorities are planning to tighten regulations by requiring drone users to register, which could make it easier to identify the pilot.
But Wagner warned: ‘If somebody wants to do something really bad, he will never register.’