The camp hosted a series of scientific workshops and protests that ended Sunday with a peaceful demonstration and a blockade of BAA headquarters (the company that owns Heathrow airport and six other airports in the country). More than 2,000 protesters were expected to mark out the 3-kilometer stretch of land set aside for a third runway and then surround BAA's offices near the airport for the next 24 hours, or “as long as possible.”  

Though residents of the camp were adamant that the demonstration would be peaceful, some 1,800 officers were on site after police arrested six residents from the Heathrow camp on suspicion of burglary Saturday after an estimated 20 people broke into a warehouse nearby. The day before, 10 others had super-glued themselves to a Department of Transport building, but members of the camp stated these were “independent climate change activists” and not related to the camp at all.

Camp attendees wanted to draw attention to the fact that “the airline industry is the fastest growing emitter of CO₂,” says Jess gold, a camp attendee who offered to show me around the site on Friday. That day, the only action taking place was some recycling bins being wheeled out. “We are a bunch of predominantly law-abiding people,” says Gold. She estimates about a third of the camp’s residents to be novices to direct action, as she herself is, and about a third of them to be families. She says that many local residents and a lot of “middle England” have openly supported the protest. And though local traffic has been affected, the airport’s services weren’t disrupted by the protestors.

—Giovanna Dunmall, London