Heathrow protesters scale Commons roof

Three men and two women climbed onto the House of Commons roof yesterday and unfurled banners protesting at plans to expand Heathrow airport.

The demonstration by the "Plane Stupid" group coincided with the end of a public consultation process on proposals to build a third runway at the world's busiest international airport.

The group evaded tight security to reach the roof and hang banners down the side of the building.

"This major breach of security is overshadowed by Gordon Brown's breach of climate security with these expansion plans," Plane Stupid spokesman Malcolm Carroll said.

Mr Carroll said the five, who were talking to police on the roof of the Parliament building, had got into the main Westminster Hall on a guided tour, taken a lift and reached the roof via a fire escape.

It was the second dramatic protest against the airport expansion in three days. On Monday, four Greenpeace activists were arrested after climbing on to the fuselage of a British Airways jet at Heathrow and draping a banner around its tailfin. Heathrow already handles 67.3 million passengers and 471,000 aircraft movements a year, figures which are forecast to double over the next 30 years.

In November, the government backed the idea of a third runway.