Police make presence felt at Heathrow protest

Alfredo Pereira, 54, was transporting his home-made placard in a wheelie bin. Wedged in between his sleeping bag, tent and blankets, it read: "Polite notice to police. Don't worry about climate-change camp - worry about terrorists at airports."

The Portuguese chef, who has lived in Sipson, Middlesex, for 30 years, was not happy after being stopped driving up to the gates of the makeshift eco-village that has sprung up overnight on a former gravel pit next to Heathrow airport. A vehement opponent of plans for a third runway at the airport, he is intending to spend the next eight days ensconced alongside campaigners from all over Europe seeking to highlight the impact of aviation on climate change.

"I am furious. For Britain this is a total disgrace - I am seeing this country in a new light," he said. The mood in the camp was no more benevolent towards the forces of law and order, 20 of whom had paid an early morning call on the 100 or so activists who began pitching tents in this patch of wasteland wedged between the Heathrow runways and the M4 on Saturday night.

"It was a show of strength," said Anna Jackson, a care worker and one of the spokeswomen for the camp. The police had further angered the new residents by blocking deliveries of water, food and eco-friendly lavatories to the site. "In terms of facilitating lawful protest or safeguarding health and safety they are clearly being obstructive. We are here. We are going to stay and have our camp and they have to be prepared for that," she said.

According to the Metropolitan Police, some 1,800 officers will be on duty to keep an eye on the events of the next few days. While at present, those cooped up in vans in surrounding streets may comfortably outnumber protesters by 10 to one, later in the week some 1,500 are expected to make their way to west London to join the protest.

Heathrow's owner BAA failed in its attempt to secure a draconian injunction through the High Court last week which would have severely curtailed freedom to travel to the camp. It will officially open its doors today for a series of workshops, vegan food events and seminars culminating in 24 days of action starting at midday on Sunday.

Organisers, buoyed by a welter of publicity generated by the court case, yesterday fuelled further fears of disruption by not ruling out the possibility of direct action against the airport. The threat immediately drew a warning from Downing Street that disruption to the running of the airport would be "unacceptable".

However, the only direct action yesterday happened in Broughton, north Wales when Leo Murray, one of three people banned from attending the camp by the BA injunction, joined others in setting up a camp on a barge transporting the wing of an Airbus A380. Mr Murray said: "Extraordinary times call for an extraordinary response, and that's why we've set up a climate camp under the wing of an Airbus super-jumbo."

The Heathrow camp is organised along stringently democratic lines - somewhere between Gerrard Winstanley's Diggers and the Zapatistas. There may be wi-fi, a cinema and solar panels but the emphasis remains steadfastly on the impact of the airport next door. Campaigners, the same group behind a highly publicised protest at Drax power station in Yorkshire last summer, enjoyed the support of local people in their fight against growth at the airport.

The local Labour MP John McDonnell was happy to join in. "If Heathrow gets its third runway this will mean the destruction of 4,000 homes and forced relocation of 10,000 people. It will be the biggest clearance since the Highland clearances," he said.

Voices from the camp

* SHIRLEY OLIVER, 53, former British Airways air stewardess from West Drayton

"I'm absolutely furious. If you look around, how can anyone possibly believe that building a new runway here is good for anyone? In the last three or four years there has been a huge change in the way people think and the extreme weather conditions. Everything you do makes a difference somewhere along the line.''

* TINA MILLER, 20, hairstylist from Liverpool

"I have been concerned about climate change for several years but after a while campaigning and cutting back on my own carbon footprint wasn't enough. This gets a lot of media attention and draws the public's attention to the impact of aviation.''

* WILLIAM FRUGAL, 41, finance director from Hebden Bridge

"Heathrow is the biggest emitter of carbon in Britain if you consider all the fuel burnt and the multiplication of this at altitude. If you get on a plane you use a whole year's worth of your carbon allowance in one go.''

* CATHERINE TONGE, 32, teacher from Leeds

"The Climate Camp is on the cutting edge of environmental activism and in terms of the analysis it offers. It's preposterous when the Government fails to include aviation emissions properly in their carbon statistics. A lot of people are inspired by coming here to work collectively to create solutions to climate change.''

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