A GREENPEACE activist who protested the visit of Donald Trump by paragliding over controlled airspace at Turnberry has been arrested.
The 55-year-old has not yet been charged over the incident, which took place at around 9.45pm on Friday, July 13.
The US President was taking in the evening sunshine with business associates on the lawn of his Ayrshire golf course when the protestor was seen flying above carrying a banner saying: ‘Trump Well Below Par #resist’
Security agents ushered the president inside as the activist glided overhead.
A no-fly zone had been enforced over the while Mr Trump was in residence.
At the time, Detective Inspector Stephen McCulloch said: "We are investigating a breach of the air exclusion zone over Turnberry Hotel, which is a criminal offence.
"We are attempting to trace the pilot and I would appeal to anyone with any information about the incident to call Police Scotland on 101."
Greenpeace said they told Police Scotland about their intentions beforehand, as well as informing air traffic control at nearby Prestwick Airport.
However, the Scottish Hang-gliding and Paragliding Federation condemned the protest as a violation of airspace.
A spokesperson said: "To violate airspace risks mid-air collision and is illegal and highly irresponsible. It also brings the sport of paragliding into disrepute.
"It is highly regrettable that the actions of one individual may have damaged the good reputation of powered paragliders in Scotland.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel