British Climate Protesters Set Out Target Shortlist

Climate campaigners protesting at the planned expansion of London's Heathrow airport said on Friday they had drawn up a list of targets for "direct action" over the weekend including a bank and airport operator BAA.

The campaigners, camped since Saturday outside the northern perimeter fence of the world's busiest international airport, also plan to target air freight operations and Heathrow's still-to-be-completed fifth terminal but not passengers.

"We have no argument with the passengers. This is all about stopping governments and corporations taking unacceptable decisions based purely on profit," spokeswoman Sophie Stephens said.

Scientists say air transport contributes heavily to global warming, noting that carbon dioxide and water vapour emitted at altitude are four times more potent than at sea level.

The British government is committed to tackling climate change by cutting CO2 emissions but also backs a rapid expansion of air travel, which is set to double in the next 25 years.

The protesters, now numbering about 800 but with more expected to arrive for the planned 24-hours of action from midday on Sunday, want Heathrow's expansion plans dropped and the growth of air travel halted.

Stephens said they planned to picket the headquarters in London of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank has worked with BAA owner, Spain's Ferrovial. They would also march on BAA's headquarters next to the airport, picket air freight operations and planned to mark out the extent of Heathrow's planned third runway. The protest comes at the height of the holiday season, three months after a blazing jeep was used to attack Glasgow airport and a year after police thwarted what they said was a plan to bomb airliners flying out of Heathrow to the United States.

Heathrow handles an average of almost one flight a minute. Opened 60 years ago, it was designed to cater for 40 million passengers a year but already sees close to 70 million.

Police, who have drafted in reinforcements, have said the camp has been infiltrated by violent anti-capitalist demonstrators -- an accusation Stephens denied.

On Thursday police made several arrests when some of the campaigners chained themselves to the perimeter railings of two small airfields near London, and on Friday several more glued themselves to the doors of the Department of Transport.

BAA says it accepts global warming is a problem but that aviation contributes only a small fraction of the carbon emissions that cause it.