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Inside job: Police hunt mole who guided green protesters onto roof of the Commons
Last updated at 00:07am on 29.02.08
Olivia Chessell, the youngest of the protesters, on the roof of the Houses of Parliament
They spent almost three hours on the roof demonstrating against Heathrow airport expansion plans before being arrested and led off to be questioned by police.
Gordon Brown criticised the activists, telling MPs: "Decisions in this country should be made in the chamber of this House and not on the roof of this House."
But the ease with which the three men and two women from campaign group Plane Stupid managed to get on to the rooftop with large banners and handcuffs raised new questions about protecting Parliament.
With terrorism fears running high, barricades have been erected around the buildings and extra CCTV cameras installed.
Yet the five – two of whom disrupted a parliamentary committee meeting three months ago – claim they entered separately as visitors and met up inside Parliament before getting on to the roof, via a spot where Westminster workers go for a cigarette.
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With police keeping a close eye on them, the campaigners take aim with their paper planes from the Parliament roof
Protester Richard George, speaking by mobile phone from the shadow of Big Ben, said: "We went up in a lift and walked out on to the roof. It was as simple as that."
Parliamentary officials and police will investigate whether the five had inside help with their high-profile demonstration – the second group were Mr George, 27, co-founder of Plane Stupid, Cambridge graduate Tamsin Omond, 23, who hopes to be ordained as a priest, Olivia Chessell, 20, a youth arts co-ordinator, Graham Thompson, 34, another co-founder of Plane Stupid, and Leo Murray, 31, an award-winning animator.
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Police with boltcutters try to free the protesters after they handcuffed themselves to the railings
Their protest came on the final day of the Government's consultation on expanding Heathrow airport, including a third runway.
The protesters made paper aeroplanes out of confidential Whitehall documents which they claimed showed the consultation process was "fixed".
They said the papers proved that the Government had already decided to build a third runway and a sixth terminal at the world's biggest international airport.
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Protesters wave to the cameras as police try to coax them down from the roof
Mr George said: "The aviation industry has taken full advantage of a weak Prime Minister to get the Heathrow consultation fixed.
"It does not even consider global warming despite everything Brown has said about the environment and despite the massive impact aviation has on the climate."
But Matthew Knowles, spokesman for the Society of British Aerospace Companies, said: "Heathrow's expansion is of national importance if jobs are to be safeguarded and created, both locally as well as in the City and across the country."
The Plane Stupid protesters unfurled banners after having made their way on to the Houses of Parliament roof
Reader views (14)
Meanwhile a demonstration of circa 2,500 people against this governments treacherous sell out of the British Isles to the undemocratic EU went largely unreported as the airport demo took precedence, has the penny dropped yet?
- Steve Lloyd, swansea Uk
Well done to the protesters, can we have more from the rest of the population for other issues please?
- Neil Grinsell, london
I agree with your comments entirely General Forsythe and would add that foreign holidays should be made compulsory as they generate a lot of much needed income in smaller countries (and some big ones too! )
- Captb, Twickenham
The insiders have been described as "workers in Whitehall". Good to know that it wasn't MPs then. Mind you if money has changed hands we shall all have to review that opinion.
- Peter Robinson, France
Why does Kris James assume that anybody who has principles or believes in anything other than money doesn't have a job? The air traffic controllers have said that the existing air corridors are full and a third runway will not change that.
- Mark, London
Or Kris James, perhaps stop flying so god damn much if you are worried about "pumping CO2 into the atmosphere".
- Cecilia, Sweden
What are these people talking about anyway? We need more airports as I don't like standing in queues with all of these riff raff types and their hoodies or whatever they are. I have to fly the Bahamas on holiday 6 times a year and occasionally pop over to Cuba to pick up my cigars too. Young people today simply haven't got a clue, it's all me, me, me, there was nothing wrong with the planet when I was young and there isn't now, it's all just a bit of weather.
- General C Forsythe, Westenhanger
Perhaps the local cops had followed the example of Gwent Police and gone for a photo shoot at the seaside!
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster
The consultation is a sham, the police are obviously as incompetent as the government sitting within the houses of parliament and I have yet to meet a single person who thinks this expansion is a good idea. It is all about profits for BAA who run a 3rd world airport because of their monopoly and disrupt the lives of million of Londoners days and night with no regard or compensation.
- Oli, London
These protesters clearly have nothing better to do...perhaps they should get a job instead of sponging off the state.
I flew into Heathrow last week and the plane had to circle over London for 30 minutes waiting for a slot to land, all the time pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere...do these protesters actually think? A third runway would cut all these stacks of planes circling and probably reduce CO2 and noise pollution.
Oh and once we landed we had to wait on the runway for another 30 mins, with the engines on because there wasn't a gate fee...lets build Terminal 6 as well!
- Kris James, London
Its true; the 'consultation' is a sham.
I took part in the online questionnaire and its very difficult to understand what the questions actually mean, the answers your select are very deliberately written to confuse. Do I, or any other Londoners want more aircraft flying overhead and at night? no, of course not. But, being in Battersea with planes 1000ft above means that my opinions will be excluded because the government has decided that the noise is no problem this far from the airport (in contradiction to the scientific evidence).
- Peter, Battersea
Runways, tubes, buses, road, rail are at breaking point already. If airport expansion is needed now then now is the time to do more in building an airport in to the North Sea close to London.
A few more years down the road Heathrow will be wanting yet another landing strip so stop expansion now and start somewhere else.
Tubes are the best for getting from A to B fast, but stations are having to be closed due to over crowding. Having been to the Boat Show at Excel this year and experienced the DLR it has put me off ever going again.
- Tony, London
Good luck to the protesters. The 'consultation' document was a sham with large sections of it actually written by BAA.
We do not want or need a larger Heathrow airport.
- Bethany Stephens, London
Superb! It just shows how open to terrorism we all are under this tin pot government!
- Fly, london
