Emma Thompson arrived at Marble Arch yesterday afternoon to support climate change protesters and urged others to join their numbers.
What she might not have mentioned to them is that she had just flown back to Heathrow Airport from Los Angeles the day before.
Many of the protesters have demanded that the Government limit how many times individuals can fly each year.
Extinction Rebellion ringleader Robin Boardman-Pattison declared during a television interview this week that flying 'should only be used in emergencies' – despite his own apparently extensive travels.
A flight from Los Angeles International Airport to London Heathrow generates at least 1.67 tonnes of CO2.
Dame Emma Thompson was at the Extinction Rebellion protest in Marble Arch on Thursday afternoon and in an interview with Sky News called on people to join the protest as police attempted to enforce the law - But only the previous day she had stepped off the plane from LA (pictured right arriving in London)
Miss Thompson said she had wanted to join the protests sooner but it had been her 60th birthday on Monday.
Dressed in black dungarees and wearing a green sticker bearing the Extinction Rebellion logo on her chest, she said: 'I was not here on April 15 because I was with my husband because I was 60.
'I absolutely wanted to be arrested on my 60th birthday but I haven't quite managed that.
'I bet that will happen in the future.'
The Oscar and Bafta-winning actress added: 'I am so proud and thrilled to be part of Extinction Rebellion, a new movement that has come up behind all the old ones that I've been part of since I was 16 years old.
'A movement that's telling it like it is and saying to government 'look, there's no more time. You can't lie and you can't stall any longer'.
'And we will occupy until you take action because that is the only way we are going to save our planet. It's hard, it's inconvenient sometimes but it's much more inconvenient to leave a planet that's so completely destroyed that our grandchildren will be up against things that we cannot even imagine.'
Her spokesman said: 'She had to fly home at any rate, it was just earlier than she thought she could have. At the moment, that is our only available and practical means of trans-global travel.'
More than 500 people have now been arrested with police complaining their tactic of going limp and requiring multiple officers to carry them away is stretching resources thin
Protestors drumming makeshift instruments including pots and pans (left) marched down Oxford Street to reinforce the protest at Oxford Circus this evening after a massive show of force by the Metropolitan Police (right) which looked set finally to remove the demonstrations from the city centre site they have held since Monday morning
A samba band drumming anything they could lay their hands on arrived to augment the Oxford Circus protest after police moved in
The crowd at Oxford Circus around a pink boat erected by climate change protesters swelled after officers poured into the area
More than 500 people have now been arrested since Monday morning in the Extinction Rebellion protests bringing central London to a standstill.
But last night the left-wing activists vowed to 'raise the bar' by targeting hundreds of thousands of tourists jetting off for the weekend as they prepared to 'shut down' Heathrow Airport.
More than 1,000 police are being deployed each day but have failed to restore order – leading to claims they are surrendering the streets.
The climate change activists, from Left-wing group Extinction Rebellion, expect to be joined by thousands more supporters off work for Easter. As pressure grew on the authorities to act yesterday:
■ Home Secretary Sajid Javid urged police to use the 'full force of the law';
■ London Mayor Sadiq Khan blamed Government cuts and asked for more cash;
■ Officers caught dancing and skateboarding with activists received a dressing down;
■ Only eight protesters have been charged, with hundreds of others released as resources are so squeezed;
■ Company bosses complained the chaos has forced them to lay off staff members.
Leaked messages, apparently sent by privately-educated ringleader Robin Boardman-Pattison, 21, yesterday laid out the plot to cause Bank Holiday travel chaos.
They said: 'Tomorrow we raise the bar. We are going to shut down Heathrow. For the Bank Holiday, we are halting our swarming disruption and turning our focus onto the aviation industry.'
Climate activists from an Extinction Rebellion demonstration at Oxford Circus, London. Londoners faced a fourth day of disruption in the capital
Extinction Rebellion demonstrators at Oxford Circus on the fourth day of disruption in the capital
Scotland Yard has warned environmental protesters will face a 'robust response' if they target Heathrow Airport tomorrow as threatened.
The force said it has 'strong plans' in place involving a significant number of officers to deal with the planned Extinction Rebellion (XR) action on Good Friday.
The airport said it is 'working with the authorities' to address the threat of mass disruption, while Home Secretary Sajid Javid has urged police to use the 'full force of the law'.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said the protests were 'increasing in intensity' and warned demonstrators against targeting Heathrow Airport.
He said: 'Protesters can expect a robust police response. We are determined to keep the airport operating.'
He added that although the Met were aware of the planned protests across central London, they had not known what scale it would be. 'That has developed as the days have passed,' he said.
Extinction Rebellion has said the current protest will end on April 29.
More than 500 arrests have now been made. Pictured: An Environmental campaigner confronts an officer at Oxford Circus
A climate activist is carried away by police officers from an Extinction
