This morning seven people from Plane Stupid Southampton were charged after setting up a climate refugee camp across the entrance to Southampton airport. Pete Barker, one of those arrested, describes why he felt compelled to take direct action to stop climate change:
Once again I’m sat on the train to Southampton with my heart pounding, this time its for my first ever court appearance, but two weeks ago we were here steeling ourselves for direct action at the airport. We wanted to wake people up to the kind of things we can expect from climate change and challenge BAA, the owners of Southampton airport, to do something for the victims.We had even set them on the way by formally submitting a planning application for a Change of Use.