An Extinction Rebellion protest has taken place across the centre of Glasgow amid the COP26 climate change summit.
Hundreds of activists flooded the streets of Scotland’s largest city from around midday this afternoon.
Protesters kicked off their demonstration from Buchanan Street before marching across the rest of the city.
Traffic was brought to a standstill in several pockets of the city as activists as police continued to deal with the large-scale protests.
The climate change group has taken part in a number of protests in Scotland since the COP26 summit kicked off in Glasgow over the weekend.
But who are Extinction Rebellion? And what does it stand for?
The group describe themselves as an international movement that uses ‘non-violent civil disobedience’ in an attempt to “halt mass extinction” and “minimise the risk of social collapse”.
Extinction Rebellion believes that the Earth is in crisis and is urging global powers to declare a climate and ecological emergency.
It claims that the globe is in the midst of a ‘third world war’ - with the two opposing sides being ‘profit’ and ‘life’.
Extinction Rebellion said that it isn’t focussed on traditional means of pressuring government, but is more likely to ‘take risks’, such as action that might lead to arrests or jail time.
They believe that non-violent demos are the “most effective ways to bring about change.”
While they say that economic and civil disruption is vital in achieving its goals, they have also apologised for the inconvenience that their actions may cause to people.
“We are completely nonviolent, our actions are done in full public view and we take responsibility for them”, the group writes on its website.
The three aims of the group include:
- The Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency
- Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025
- Government must create and be led by the decision of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice
In the year of 2019, the group carried out significant action across the UK - with protestors occupying streets, vandalising the buildings of fossil fuel companies and obstructing trains.
Scots opinion on the actions of the group during this time appeared to be split according to a YouGov study.
It revealed that 45% of Scots were in favour of the action while 44% of said they opposed it in some way. The remaining 11% of people said they didn’t know.
Extinction Rebellion protesters have already held demonstrations outside the offices of banking firm JP Morgan and blocked the Squinty Bridge in Glasgow while COP26 takes place at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) this week.
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