Airport Protest Hailed A Success

A planned demonstration against the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport has seen more than 3000 protestors attend to make their opinions known.

The protestors walked from Hatton Cross to Sipson, which is the village that would be destroyed if expansion was to go ahead, a huge NO was formed on a large field in the threatened village by most of the participants. The campaigners say that the planned runway and expansion would threaten hundreds of thousands of homes in the area, but airlines and business groups have said that the expansion is essential to the airports survival. There were local council leaders and MP's at the protest, some of whom addressed the crowds.

One protestor had flown all the way from Athens to make her point and felt that it was "ironic" that she had had to fly to the protest via Heathrow Airport. High profile supporters of the protest included The Archbishop Of Canterbury and Dr. Rowan Williams with the former showing support by submitting a letter that was read out at the protest. The public consultation for the runway ended back in February and the result of the policy decisions will be announced some time in 2009.

Published by: Jon Vickery