The three Portuguese are among 100 environmental activists still in custody in Switzerland following Tuesday’s protest against Europe’s biggest private jet fair and exhibition, a Lusa activist said Wednesday.
Noa Zino, spokesman for the Portuguese group Abolir Jatos Privados (AJP), said among the activists arrested Tuesday in Geneva were three Portuguese, one from AJP and two from Climáximo and Scientist Rebellion Portugal.
Zino said those being targeted “cannot be contacted” as he does not know more details about the situation.
In a statement Tuesday, Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion announced that 100 environmental activists from 17 countries have been arrested following a “peaceful protest”, demanding their “immediate release” and expressing their concerns about the “reports”. excessive use of force against demonstrators by the police.
About 80 activists were arrested, according to police reports cited by the AP news agency.
A protest against the EBACE exhibition, which aimed to denounce the pollution caused by private jet flights in the context of an “unprecedented climate crisis”, on Tuesday temporarily blocked air traffic at Geneva airport for about an hour, the second most important in Switzerland and which runs the event until Thursday.
Activists boarded the planes on display, chained themselves to the plane’s steps to prevent visitors and shoppers from entering, and put up posters that looked like tobacco package labels warning of the dangers of “mega-luxury pollutants.”
According to the operator of the Geneva airport, four people, including activists and security, were injured.
Environmental groups assured that “never” the activists “do not intend to interrupt commercial air traffic at Geneva airport.”
“The activists chose not to enter the runways, but to use only the service lanes, this should not have affected flight safety in any way,” the statement said.
According to the group Abolir Jatos Privados, which cites recent research, private flights “generate about 10 times more” carbon dioxide “than a commercial flight per passenger-kilometer” and “cause a disproportionate amount of particulate pollution and noise.”
“This is the most polluting, energy-intensive and most unfair mode of transport per passenger,” he said in a statement.
For organizers of the Geneva fair, the demonstrators missed an opportunity for “constructive dialogue” on sustainability in private aviation.
They claim that the sector is “deeply committed to fighting climate change” having reduced carbon emissions by 40% over the past 40 years.