Climate change activist Greta Thunberg joined a march in southern Britain on Saturday in protest against the use of private jets and the expansion of an airport.
Hundreds of residents and activists carrying banners and placards reading “Ban private jets” marched to Farnborough Airport, which serves mainly private jets.
The airport, located in the county of Hampshire, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of London, applied last year to increase its maximum number of flights from 50,000 to 70,000 per year.
Groups working to combat climate change, including Extinction Rebellion, which organized Saturday’s protest, pointed out that private jets pollute far more than commercial airliners. Flights arriving and departing from Farnborough Airport carried an average of 2.5 passengers per flight in 2022, the group said.
“It is clear that private jets are incompatible with ensuring present and future living conditions on the planet,” Thunberg said in a video posted on social media by Extinction Rebellion.
“We will not let this continue. We will not let a few rich people, who are responsible for most of the gas emissions from aviation, get away with sacrificing people and the planet,” the activist added.
Thunberg, the 21-year-old Swedish environmental activist who inspired a global youth movement against climate change, is expected to appear before a London court next week to face a charge of public order offenses. She was arrested in October during a demonstration against a major oil and gas industry conference.
Thunberg was among the activists charged with attempting to block access to the Energy Intelligence Forum. She denied the accusation.