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Unlike other protest movements, an arrest is a part of the Extinction Rebellion protest strategy and activists often aim to get themselves arrested, or at least know that it is a distinct possibility.

They call it “an opportunity to tell the truth - to the courts, the media and the public, and to raise the alarm on the climate emergency we face.”

Heathrow Airport released its own statement saying, “We agree with the need for climate change action but illegal protest activity designated with the intention of disrupting thousands of people, is not the answer.”

Our brave drone pilots are forcing a debate

We have a choice

Have we got the will to change

do we carry on as business as usual , unwilling to let go of our lifestyles , even at the expense of our own children

Lifestyle or our children's lives
#ClimateBreakdown

— Heathrow Pause (@HeathrowPause) September 13, 2019

Heathrow is the seventh busiest airport in the world and the UK’s busiest airport with over 80 million passengers passing through in 2018.

In 2016, there were 3.8 billion air travelers. That number is expected to almost double to 7.2 billion passengers in 2015 according to the International Air Transport Association. The aviation industry is responsible for 2% of all CO2 emissions, and 12% of transport-sector CO2 emissions, according to industry non-profit The Air Transport Action Group.

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