The right to protest is essential in a free and democratic society.
People must be allowed to rise up at key moments in history to let the government know the status quo is no longer acceptable.
The Glasgow rent strikes, American civil rights movement and plight of the Suffragettes all teach us that, while protest can be ugly, society ultimately benefits if the cause is noble.
Climate change is a threat to all of humanity and it is clear governments are not moving fast enough to avert catastrophe for millions of people.
The rights of thousands of people from around the world, who will descend on Glasgow over the next two weeks to demand global action during the Cop26 summit, must therefore be respected.
There are, however, limits to what is acceptable.
Unprovoked and mindless violence against police officers, or anyone else for that matter, is not protest, it is just old-fashioned thuggery.
Private messages between members and associates of Extinction Rebellion have called for police staying at a city hotel to be used as “target practice”.
Another sinister online post called for “sacrificial action”.
The vast majority of decent people who will take to the streets to make their voices heard should distance themselves from this moronic minority.
They do nothing to further the cause – violence and destruction will move everyone further away from a sustainable future.
One peaceful climate campaigner everyone was looking forward to welcoming to Glasgow is Greta Thunberg.
She arrived by train at Glasgow’s Central Station to a rock star welcome last night.
Her choice of travel will emit 150 times less CO2 than world leaders touching down on private jets – the most polluting mode of transport on the planet – to tell us all to cut our carbon footprints.
Around 400 private flights are likely to land for the talks, belching out more emissions than 1600 Scots will produce in an entire year.
If they don’t leave having agreed a plan to stabilise global temperatures, and with the political will to carry it out, Cop26 will have been an unforgivable waste of time and CO2.
