London (dpa) - Police warned climate change activists that they could face criminal charges if they go ahead with a plan to use drones to disrupt flights at Britain's busiest airport, London's Heathrow, on Friday.

The Heathrow Pause group said it plans to force the suspension of flights at Heathrow as a "response to the government’s lack of constructive progress on the climate and environmental emergency declared by parliament on May 1."

Laurence Taylor, deputy assistant commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, said his force had been "preparing for this protest for some weeks now" in a bid to minimize disruption at the airport.

"This group of activists have stated their intention to fly drones illegally near Heathrow airport on Friday morning, with the sole aim of causing significant disruption to planned flights," Taylor said in a statement.

"Far from this being a lawful protest, this is the deliberate and criminal targeting of an essential part of the UK's national infrastructure that thousands of people rely on every day and it will not be tolerated," he added, urging the activists to reconsider their plans.

Heathrow Pause on Tuesday said it was "utterly committed to the principles of non-violence, transparency and accountability and to cooperating with the police as far as is possible."

Climate change group Extinction Rebellion postponed plans in June for a similar protest at Heathrow, following police warnings.

It said last month that the planned Heathrow Pause protest "will be independent of Extinction Rebellion UK" and is not supported by the group.

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