Airports across Europe faced disruption on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, as civil resistance groups blocked runways and departure gates in what looked like a coordinated stunt.
Activists stopped air traffic at airports in Cologne and Oslo, blocked security gates in Helsinki, and blocked main roads outside airports in Zurich and Geneva. Meanwhile activists were intercepted at Heathrow in the UK and Barcelona-El Prat Airport in Spain.
Flights resumed after long delays and cancellations that began when campaigners cut through a fence at Germany’s Cologne-Bonn Airport at 5am and glued themselves to the runway.
A runway was breached in Norway and security gates were blocked in Finland as the campaigners declared an ‘international uprising’ to end the use of fossil fuels.
Activists at London Heathrow and Barcelona’s El Prat Airport were intercepted by police before they could disrupt air traffic.
The protests took place under the slogan “Oil Kills”, in a rebranded alliance between groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Britain’s Just Stop Oil and Germany’s Last Generation.
Organisers warned Wednesday’s action was “just the start” as they seek an end to coal, oil and gas extraction by 2030 under a legally binding climate change treaty.
They said campaigners had received “training in non-violence” and would take “all possible steps” not to threaten airport safety.
The protest began at 5am when intruders with bicycles and skateboards cut through chain-link fence at Cologne-Bonn and stuck themselves to a runway.
“Airports such as this are a place of injustice. We are here demanding that governments sign a fossil fuel treaty,” said Malte Nierobisch, 21, one of five protesters at Cologne-Bonn Airport in Germany.
The German airport said flights had resumed but disruptions and cancellations “are to be expected during the course of the day” after a hole was cut in a perimeter fence.
Three people breached another fence in Oslo shortly before 6am and sat down next to the runway. Nine people blocked the security area at Helsinki, holding up a banner reading “fossil fuels are killing us”.
Roads were blocked on the way to Zurich and Geneva’s airports in Switzerland, disrupting passengers as they entered the departures and arrivals terminals. Five people were arrested.
Rita Straub, a 74-year-old activist in Switzerland, said she was “ashamed of the state of the world I am leaving to my great nieces and nephews”.
In Barcelona, five people were intercepted by police while taking action at El Prat Airport, with fines handed out on the spot, campaigners said.
London’s Metropolitan Police said Heathrow’s operations were running as normal after nine people were arrested. “These arrests have prevented significant disruption to the airport and the travelling public,” it said.
More airport protests are expected this weekend, Dutch activists said. Oil Kills campaigners said airports were targeted as a “key pillar of the global fossil fuel economy”.
“By taking non-violent direct action at airports, we are disrupting business as usual on an international scale that can’t be ignored,” said the group, which calls itself an “international uprising to end oil by 2030″.
The protests come days after Germany’s government proposed two-year prison sentences for people convicted of disrupting air traffic.
A sentence of up to five years would be possible in cases where intruders force their way into an airport with banned objects such as a knife or toxic substance.
Activists have previously shut down Berlin’s main airport, and the Last Generation is planning a new “wave of protests” this autumn.
Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, had accused people gluing themselves to runways of putting others at risk and causing delays to tens of thousands of travellers.
In Britain, a group of Just Stop Oil protesters were sentenced to four to five years in prison last week after conspiring to block traffic on London’s ring road motorway.
A judge said the “exemplary sentences” were a necessary deterrent because activists appeared to believe that the criminal law “really doesn’t matter”.
“The plain fact is that each of you has some time ago crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic,” the judge said.
While not involved in the organisation, nor responsible for any of the actions that took place at the airports on Wednesday, the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative says it stands in solidarity with citizen’s rights to carry out peaceful demonstrations of protest.
“It is critical that governments listen to these demands and act swiftly to end fossil fuel expansion and support a global transition away from coal, oil and gas.
“These activists are far from the first to call for governments to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, a proposal spearheaded by 13 nation-states on four continents, and endorsed by over 3,500 organisations and institutions including the World Health Organisation, the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.
“Previous treaty proposals to ban nuclear weapons or phase out landmines have become a reality after a diverse global movement advocate for governments to take action, and we hope to see people from all walks of life join the call for countries to complement the Paris Agreement by negotiating an international treaty to phase out oil, gas and coal production in a fast and equitable manner,” submitted the group.
Tzeporah Berman, Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative, stated: “History will see the people who have been taking part in these protests as heroes not criminals. If our governments were taking the necessary action to stop expansion of oil, gas and coal and manage a fair phase out of fossil fuels to keep citizens safe, people wouldn’t need to do these protests. Instead of jailing citizens who are fighting for a liveable future, governments should be prosecuting oil companies and committing to work towards a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Alexandre Naulot, Head of Europe Advocacy and Campaigns for Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative, said: “Self-declared climate leaders like Canada, the United-States and Norway have no plans to phase out their fossil fuel extraction, and in the UK, it is only the brand-new government that has just committed to ending new oil and gas licences. In fact, many wealthy countries are more likely to expand their oil and gas production than wind it down. In the context of this failure of political leadership, citizens are increasingly frustrated and will continue to push their governments to do more.
“Meanwhile on the other side of the world, thirteen nation-states from the Global South are already seeking to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. These brave, peaceful actions demonstrate that the growing global demand for climate justice is only going to escalate. We urge all governments to listen to their citizens and join the global call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Civil resistance groups involved with the international uprising include activists Letzte Generation in Germany, Folk Mot FossilMakta in Norway, Extinction Rebellion Finland, Futuro Vegetal in Spain, Just Stop Oil in the UK, Drop Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Act Now-Liberate in Switzerland, Last Generation Canada, Extinction Rebellion Netherlands, Extinction Rebellion Boston and Scientists Rebellion in the United States.
