Seventeen people have appeared in court today charged over an anti-deportation protest which saw activists lock themselves to a plane at Stansted Airport.
The group of nine women and eight men, aged between 23 and 46, from Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Leytonstone and Greenwich pleaded not guilty to obstructing a person engaged in lawful activity and taking part in a demonstration likely to obstruct Stansted Airport.
All 17 appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court and were bailed to appear at Basildon Magistrates’ Court for trial on September 22.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Stansted Airport on the evening of March 28 after protesters entered a secure area and erected a blockade near a non-commercial runway.
Campaign group Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSMigrants) said some of its members, along with individuals from End Deportations and Plane Stupid, were behind the bid to halt a “mass deportation flight” destined for Nigeria.
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