Manchester Airport secures court protest injunction after Just Stop Oil arrests

Manchester Airport has secured a court injunction against would-be protesters on its site after the arrests of a number of Just Stop Oil group protestors.

Three airports have now been granted a High Court injunction against would-be protesters on their airfields.

Lawyers for Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports appeared before a judge in London on Friday to ask for an order preventing demonstrations on their sites or departing flights. Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is the UK's largest airports group and collectively owns and operates the three UK airports.

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Barrister Timothy Morshead KC, for the airports, said activist group Just Stop Oil 'has explicitly threatened a campaign of protest at the UK's airports' and that there is an 'imminent' risk of blockades, obstructions and disruption.

He continued in written submissions: "Protest at the airports, or on a flight departing therefrom, has obvious potential for detrimental effects."

The bid for an injunction comes weeks after two Just Stop Oil activists were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after appearing to spray orange paint over private jets at Stansted Airport – with one jet parked in the airfield thought to belong to singer Taylor Swift.

In a post on X on June 20, Just Stop Oil said: “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.”

On Friday, Judge Rosalind Coe KC granted the injunction against “persons unknown whose purpose is or includes protest on the premises” in relation to the three airports.

She said while there are bylaws and criminal laws