Plane Stupid protesters questioned by police

Five activists managed to climb onto the roof of the Houses of Parliament to protest against a third runway being built at Heathrow Airport.

The activists, from climate action group Plane Stupid, scaled the roof shortly before Prime Minister’s Questions on the day that Government consultation into the Heathrow expansion ended.

It is believed that they gained access to the building using visitors passes, before climbing onto the roof at about 9.30am.

The three men and two women threw paper aeroplanes off the roof which were made from Whitehall documents. The group claim that the documents reveal that airport operator BAA wrote part of the consultation document, and that the decision for building a third runway was pre-decided before any consultation took place.

They also held two banners from the roof, which said “No third runway” and “BAA HQ”.

After three hours the protesters were peacefully led away by police, and were bailed to report back in April. A Parliment employee was also arrested on suspicision of helping the protesters gain access to the roof.

One of the protesters, Richard George, said: “This Prime Minister doesn’t even have the courage to ask Londoners the very simple question - do you want a third runway?”

The demonstration was condemned by the Airport Operators Association. A spokesperson for the groups said: “Protesters against airport expansion have lost all credibility. The inside of the House of Commons is the right place to determine the Government’s policy on airport expansion - not through anti-democratic stunts.”