A pair of activists with an environmental protest group were arrested after they purportedly spray-painted two private jets at a British airfield in which they claimed Taylor Swift was parked.
At about 5 a.m. Thursday, according to authorities, 22-year-old Cole Macdonald and 28-year-old Jennifer Kowalski cut open the fence of a private airfield at London Stansted Airport and spray-painted two jets parked there bright orange.
Their group Just Stop Oil claimed in a video of the attack posted on X that Ms. Swift had parked at the airport.
🚨 JUST STOP OIL PAINT PRIVATE JETS HOURS AFTER TAYLOR SWIFT’S LANDS
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) June 20, 2024
🔥 Jennifer and Cole cut the fence into the private airfield at Stansted where @taylorswift13’s jet is parked, demanding an emergency treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030.
💸 Donate — https://t.co/UwALfVtRmR pic.twitter.com/aORdvUuQmU
But Stansted Airport officials say that Ms. Swift never parked at the airfield, and Essex Police confirmed to broadcaster ITV that her jet was not at the airfield when the incident occurred.
Both Ms. Macdonald and Ms. Kowalski were arrested by Essex Police on “suspicion of criminal damage and interference with the use or operation of national infrastructure.”
“Almost immediately after we were made aware of this incident, which took place away from the main passenger terminal, we were on the scene … We are not anti-protest but we will always take action where criminal acts take place,” Essex Police Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said in a release.
A spokesperson for Stansted Airport told the BBC that “as a precaution, runway operations were suspended for a short period, but no flights were disrupted, and the airport and flights are operating as normal.”
Just Stop Oil, which was also behind an incident Wednesday that saw the 4,500-year-old stone circle Stonehenge redecorated orange, said in a release that they want the next U.K. government elected on July 4 to “agree an equitable plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.”
“We’re living in two worlds: one where billionaires live in luxury, able to fly in private jets away from the other, where unlivable conditions are being imposed on countless millions. Meanwhile, this system … is destroying the conditions necessary to support human life in a rapidly accelerating never-ending ’cruel summer,’” Ms. Macdonald said, referencing a song by Ms. Swift.
The incident with Stonehenge drew opprobrium from both of Britain’s major parties, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling the protest a “disgraceful act of vandalism” and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer calling Just Stop Oil “pathetic.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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