Environmental activist group Just Stop Oil claimed responsibility for destroying two private jets at a British airport on Thursday, mistakenly believing that Taylor Swift’s jet had landed, according to the BBC.
The group said it targeted the airport because Swift’s jet had “landed a few hours earlier”, but airport authorities later denied the claim, the BBC reported. reportEssex Police also arrested two activists, according to a press release. (Related article: Radical environmental group backed by wealthy American liberals defaces Stonehenge)
Just Stop Oil tweeted a video of Cole McDonald, one of two suspects who entered the airport and destroyed the jet, discussing the act.
🔥 Cole McDonald, 22, from Brighton, was one of two people who painted a jet at the airfield where Taylor Swift’s private jet landed just hours earlier.
💸 Support young people like Cole in their actions — https://t.co/UwALfVtRmR pic.twitter.com/sH5qO1hyji
— Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) June 20, 2024
“I have spray painted two private jets orange. We need an international treaty to ban the burning of oil, coal and gas. The elite and the wealthy fly thousands of feet above us all while people starve. Billionaires are not invincible,” McDonald says in the video.
Another video tweeted by Open Source Intel showed two activists sawing through part of a fence, spray painting two jets and entering the airfield.
Anti-oil protesters recently spray-painted a private jet orange… The jet’s owner is unknown pic.twitter.com/CDet1sbGuv
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 20, 2024
“I want to assure passengers and the public that we are fully prepared and resourced to deal with incidents of this nature,” Essex Police Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said.
An airport spokesman said the vandalism led the airport to take precautionary measures, including temporarily suspending runway operations.
