Terminal 2 | >Re-PHOTO

Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion - 2016 — *Some travellers came to the die-in with the message ‘Stop Airport Expansion’ inside their suitcases*

Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion: On Saturday 1st October 2016 I made my way from Hatton Cross Station with protesters to Terminal 2 after we were informed that this was where the planned ‘#StayGrounded‘ flashmob protest organised by Reclaim The Power was to start shortly.

Although the location had been kept secret before the event, and most of the several hundred protesters told to gather at the underground station, Heathrow security seem to be expecting us when we arrived and the Departures lounge and had obviously decided to treat the event with a minimum of intervention so as not to give it greater publicity.

Security watched the protest standing around the area where it was taking place and only stopping protesters when they tried to go in further to the check-in area, but otherwise making no attempt to stop the protest or prevent me and the other press photographing it.

I sat somewhat uneasily in the departures lounge, discretely photographing the protesters, many of whom had come with suitcases and bags to blend in with the passengers until red handkerchiefs have the signal for the protest to begin.

When it did come the protesters quickly moved into the open space and staged a die-in, some opening their jackets to reveal ‘No Third Runway’ t-shirts.

Others took out aprons from their luggage and stood with the message ‘Climate Change Has A Death Toll’.

People began to loudly read out information about the effects on climate of air travel.

Some taking part in the die-in had brought posters and held them on their chests and others wore medical face masks to point out the pollution caused by air traffic and road traffic bringing fliers to the airport.

The readings continued and a group of protesters dressed as ‘frequent fliers’ in business suits apparently waiting to catch a plane became increasingly restive at being held up by the protests.

Some of the ‘frequent flyers’ began to move forward stepping over the protesters to reach the ‘High Polluters Club Frequent Flyer VIP Check-in’ which had been set up for them.

There they sipped champagne (from empty glasses to comply with airport restrictions), chatted idly and held up large cartoon ‘speech bubbles’ with messages including “When People have to fight to breathe clean air, the government is not fit for purpose“, “‘I got £100K bonus this year“, “I’m one of the 15% who make 70% of flights” and “I‘m flying to my 2nd home in France“.

Next came some songs specially written for the occasion which unfortunately I didn’t record and then some dances, with an an aviation version of ‘Ring a-Ring of Roses’ which of course ends with everyone falling down.

At the end of the protest came a special version of ‘Auld Lang Syne‘ against airport expansion and a little more dancing before we all left the terminal.

I took a few pictures on the way out, then went to the bus station to catch a local bus to Terminal 5 from where I could get a bus home.

But as well as the protest inside the airport I had photographed, there had also been a protest by cyclists which had been met with a huge reaction from the police, disrupting traffic for miles around and leading to wide diversions. My bus was diverted by the M4 and M25 taking over twice as long as normal.

Many more pictures on My London Diary: Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion.

Heathrow expansion is now back on the table, although only if it can be shown to be consistent with our climate change obligations. Of course there is no real chance that it ever can be, but often things like this have been fudged to allow things to happen – Heathrow itself only came about on the basis of lies that it was needed for military use. And a very significant part of this fudging is the recent Draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement published in June 2026 and the proposal to prioritise hub airport capacity and national economic growth as ‘Critical National Growth Infrastructure’.

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I’m not a great fan of Prince Charles – or any royalty who I think are all parasites whose ancestors stole the land from the people and are still fleecing us in various ways – but I had to agree with him when a few days ago he called for a ‘Marshall-like plan’ to combat climate change, which he warned will “dwarf” the impact of coronavirus, with potentially devastating consequences. Perhaps he was still rather underplaying the danger we all face, but if he and David Attenborough were ever to come to power we might just see a shift in our establishment and government that could at least alleviate some of the more disastrous effects of global heating.

Protesters wait with travellers in the Departures lounge

But I’m not optimistic. Averting catastrophe will require drastic changes in our economic structures and ways of life which will impact the highest polluters most – and that “1%” are those who currently run most of the world to feed their ever-unsatiated greed. The rich are the rich because they have always put themselves first, and have never given up their advantages without a fight – and have always been able to afford the better arms and armies.

One thing that will have to change is aviation. Flights by a relatively small proportion of people make a ridiculous contribution to greenhouse gases – not just by weekend private jet flights to Perugia but much more by ‘frequent fliers’ on regular services. But it isn’t just the emissions from burning fossil fuel in flights, but the huge amounts of energy and materials in making planes and airport infrastructure which present a problem, as well as the effects of global freight leading to deforestation and other environmental problems around the world. Even if hydrogen-fuelled aircraft were to remove most of the pollution problems of actual flights the aviation industry will remain a climate threat.

Some had aprons with messages and read out information and there were speeches

Back in 2010 I was with local campaigners celebrating the cancellation of plans to expand Heathrow by building an extra ‘third’ runway. But lobbying by the aviation industry and a deliberately short-sighted ‘Davies Report’ put it back as government policy in 2016, though in 2020 a judicial review ruled that the government’s decision to proceed with building the third runway were unlawful as they had failed to take into account the government’s commitments to combat climate change.

The protest inside Heathrow’s Terminal 2 took place as the government were preparing to back building the third runway again in 2016 and was organised by Reclaim The Power. It was a part of a global wave of resistance to airport expansion on environmental and social grounds, and took the form of a ‘flash mob’ with a well choreographed event, beginning with a die-in over which frequent fliers stepping over their dead bodies and luggage to a champagne fast track check-in desk, followed by songs and dances.’ There were other protests at Gatwick and in Austria, France, Mexico, Turkey and elsewhere.

A protester dressed as a frequent flyer steps through the die-in

I just a just a little nervous anticipation beforehand about photographing the event, which was taking place in a privately owned space, though one open to the public, but airport security made no attempt to stop me or the protesters other than keeping us outside the security zone. I think the organisers had made clear to them that they were not attempting to greatly disrupt the airport and would not be causing any damage.

Outside the airport where 150 cyclists were protesting things were a little different, with police over-reacting hugely to a relatively minor protest, shutting down roads across a large area for several hours. They turned what would have been hardly noticeable to travellers in the area into a major incident.

Many more pictures from the protest inside Terminal 2 at Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion.

Tag: Terminal 2

Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion – 2016

Oct 1 2016: Heathrow Climate Die-in