Eco-extremists broke into one of Britain’s most secure airports and painted “multiple private jets”, writing a lengthy screed justifying the action with the alleged presence of Taylor Swift’s private jet.
Private jets were sprayed with orange paint at the London airport “where Taylor Swift’s jet landed mere hours before” on Thursday morning. Two members of the environmental extremism direct action group ‘Just Stop Oil’ used a battery angle grinder to cut the perimeter fence before using paint-filled fire extinguishers to douse “multiple private jets”.
Two people were arrested by Essex Police.
The group published a statement on the action which was laced with references to Taylor Swift, who is performing in London at Wembley Stadium on Friday as part of the Eras Tour. As with the attack on the ancient British monument Stonehenge by the Just Stop Oil group on Wednesday, they said direct action was required because “We need an emergency treaty to stop the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.”
If the activists had hoped to happen across Taylor Swift’s jet in particular in the time they had to undertake the vandalism before the arrival of the police, it appears they were not successful.
Speaking out on private jet use in particular, the group said: “It is estimated that 80% of the world’s population has never taken a flight. Just 1% of people cause 50% of global aviation emissions. Private jet users are responsible for up to 14x as much carbon emissions compared with a commercial flight.”
The unchallenged infiltration of the private air terminal at Stanstead — which ultimately resulted in a brief suspension of runway operations, reports state — will be a headache for the airport, which is the de facto London secure airfield.
It is the airport used by U.S. Presidents arriving on Air Force One instead of the larger and more famous London Heathrow because its physical characteristics and proximity to military bases make it better suited to secure operations. Stanstead is also the airport aircraft in distress, or even hijacked flights are directed to, for the same reasons.
Just Stop Oil were widely criticised on Wednesday after they used the same technique — fire extinguishers reloaded with paint — to vandalise Stonehenge. Stonehenge is explicitly protected by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 which makes it a criminal offence to damage the stones. Brexit leader Nigel Farage said the vandals should “go to prison”.