Climate activists acting under the banner “oil kills” have glued themselves to the tarmac and grounded flights across Europe as holidaymakers attempt to make summer getaways.
In a wave of protests at airports from Oslo to Barcelona, activists disrupted flights and demanded that rich and polluting countries phase out fossil fuels by 2030. The protests, which the activists said had led to several arrests, came a day after climate scientists logged the world’s hottest day on record.
“Ordinary people are taking matters into their own hands today to do what our criminal governments have failed to do,” the campaign said in a statement. “We are putting our bodies on the wheels of the machine of the global fossil economy and saying ‘oil kills’.”
In Germany, protesters from the climate group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) briefly stopped flights on Wednesday morning after they cut a chain-linked fence and glued themselves to the tarmac at Cologne-Bonn airport. The airport said that 31 flights had been cancelled and six diverted.
In Austria, activists delayed a flight by refusing to sit down before takeoff while others spilled orange paint in the terminal at Vienna airport. In Switzerland, they blocked roads leading to Zürich and Geneva airports.
Further protests hit airports in Norway, Finland and Spain. In the UK, 10 activists from Just Stop Oil were arrested on suspicion of planning disruption at Heathrow airport. All remain in custody.
Rita Straub, 74, a retired software analyst in Switzerland, said she was committing civil disobedience to “shake things up” and exert pressure. “I am ashamed of the state of the world I am leaving to my great-nieces and nephews. I cannot stand by silently while fossil fuels continue to kill thousands and governments continue to expand their use,” she said.
In targeting airports, the activists argued that rich countries have the most responsibility to phase out fossil fuels and the greatest capacity to do so.
“At airports it becomes clear: what used to be normal, we can no longer afford today,” said one Letzte Generation supporter, Lili Gomez.
Authorities in countries such as the UK and Germany have cracked down on airport protests and pushed for harsher penalties for activists.
The Dutch branch of Extinction Rebellion, which joined the protests on Wednesday, said further actions were planned for Saturday at airports in at least seven countries.
