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Demonstrators at Heathrow protest airport expansion

Emergency service workers talk to an activist, dressed as a teddy bear, top right, from the pressure group Plane Stupid, who was one of several demonstrators who occupied the north runway at London's Heathrow Airport to launch a protest Monday July 13, 2015. A spokesman for the action group said a dozen demonstrators cut through a fence and entered the runway early on Monday. (Steve Parsons/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT Emergency service workers talk to an activist, dressed as a teddy bear, top right, from the pressure group Plane Stupid, who was one of several demonstrators who occupied the north runway at London's Heathrow Airport to launch a protest Monday July 13, 2015. A spokesman for the action group said a dozen demonstrators cut through a fence and entered the runway early on Monday. (Steve Parsons/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT

By Associated Press July 13, 2015 1 min read

LONDON (AP) – Police removed climate change activists at London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday after the demonstrators breached the perimeter fence to stage a protest on the northern runway.

About a dozen protesters from the group Plane Stupid entered the runway at 3:30 a.m. (0230 GMT Monday; 10:30 p.m. EDT Sunday) to challenge plans to expand Europe’s largest airport. All had been removed, the airport said in a statement.

An independent commission concluded earlier this month that building a third runway at Heathrow would be the best way to give Britain the additional aviation capacity it says is urgently needed. Environmental activists are outraged by the results of the three-year study, saying that a new runway will make air quality worse and exacerbate climate change.

Heathrow is urging people traveling to check with the airlines before departure, even though the protest is over. Both runways remained open.