Seven people arrested after Black Lives Matter protest

The Twitter page of Black Lives Matter UK claimed responsibility for the protest, saying it was to highlight the “UK’s environmental impact on black people”.

Flights in and out of the airport were seriously affected, as police waited for specialist equipment that would allow them to remove the protesters.

One Twitter user wrote: “All the protesters who had chained themselves together on the runway were white”.

London Metropolitan Police dispatched officers to the scene. So far seven of the nine protestors have been arrested.

The UK division of Black Lives Matter said it had targeted City Airport to protest about expansion plans that would adversely affect people living nearby.

A police statement that they’d been called to the airport at 5:40 on Tuesday morning after nine protestors from the Black Lives Matter group swam across the dock and accessed the runway.

London City Airport is popular with bankers and business people due to its close proximity to the capital’s financial district.

The group of less than 10 demonstrators was trying to raise awareness of what it says is the disproportionate impact man-made climate change has on minorities, in the name of the Black Lives Matter protest group of Britain.

Some eight planes were diverted and several more were delayed while the second runway opened.

This protest follows a well-publicised blockade of roads leading to Heathrow Airport last month, which caused travel chaos for thousands of holidaymakers.

British Airways, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group, apologised to customers for delays to their journeys and encouraged passengers to check in online before they reached the airport.

“It is an airport designed for the wealthy”.

London City Airport announced that its runway is closed due to protesters on site.

Passenger Casey Collins said customers were unaware of the runway protest until after 8am, and assumed the delays were related to IT glitches on British Airways’ check-in systems.

The airport said it hope to resume normal service as soon as possible.

Travellers have complained of long queues, with the systems problem reported at global airports in London, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Denver, San Francisco, Toronto, Chicago, Berlin, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Vienna, Rome and Durban.