Nine people charged with trespass after Black Lives Matter protest at London City Airport

Nine people have been charged following yesterday's Black Lives Matter protest at London City Airport.

The all-white group were charged this morning with aggravated trespass and being unlawfully airside in the airport.

Among those charged are William Pettifer, 27, from Radford, Esme Waldron, 23, from Brighton and Natalie Fiennes, 25, from Wandsworth. 

Sama Baka, 27, Sam Lund-Harket, 32, and Alex Etchart, 26, who all live in a houseboat on the River Stort, Roydon, are also among those charged.

The remaining three people facing prosecution over the stunt are Deborah Francis-Grayson, 31, from Slough, Richard Collet-White, 23, from Kempston and Ben Tippet, 24, from Wandsworth.

All nine people have been released on bail to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday next week. 

The mayhem began yesterday at 5.40am when protesters chained themselves to a tripod in the middle of the tarmac to campaign against the UK's 'racist climate change', cancelling dozens of flights and delaying several more.

The incident triggered huge security concerns amid reports the demonstrators managed to get airside by sailing a blow-up dinghy across the Royal Docks. 

Police spent several hours 'negotiating' with those responsible as they waited for 'specialist resources' to unlock them, causing chaos for passengers.

It was only after six hours that all the protesters were successfully removed from the site and taken into police custody.  

According to the protest group, the demonstration focused on the airport's expansion plans, which they claim will favour the 'wealthy' passengers and ignore the local population of Newham, the borough in which the airport is based.  

After arriving on the site, the group released a statement saying black people are '28 per cent more likely to suffer air pollution' and that the airport was allowing a 'wealthy elite' to fly around the world while migrants are drowning in the Mediterranean.