A group of climate change activists have climbed the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh as part of a new campaign.
Three protesters from Extinction Rebellion Scotland are currently on the roof of Holyrood, and say they will remain in place until First Minister's Questions ends at 2pm.
They dropped a banner reading 'Choose Oil or Choose Life: Act Now' over the entrance to mark the beginning of their 'Make The Connections' campaign.
Campaigners say we are "hurtling towards the breakdown of the support systems we rely on for life", and that "wiful obstruction" by finance and fossil fuel companies have "led to our Government implementing weak climate change policy".
They say direct action is being taken today to "demand that the Scottish Government Choose Oil or Choose Life".
Advertising boards with the slogan have also appeared in bus stops in Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Stirling overnight.
@ScotlandXr climb Holyrood, drop banner ‘Choose Oil or Choose Life’. Aiming to remain there until #FMQs ends at 2pm
— Extinction Rebellion Scotland 🌍 (@ScotlandXr) October 8, 2020
The govt is co-opted by the fossil fuel industry and is leading us towards catastrophe, but there is still a choice. #MakeTheConnectionshttps://t.co/VkihzFXNq1 pic.twitter.com/Teu41p7ibj
One of the climbers, Myke Hall, said: “If the Scottish Government really wants to be world leaders on the climate emergency they need to stop pretending that big fossil fuel companies are part of the solution.
"These corporations have known about ecological breakdown for decades and have only drilled deeper.
The 33-year-old writer added: "They serve the bank accounts of billionaire shareholders, not the workers, not the people of Scotland, and certainly not those suffering today in the areas most affected.”
Another climber, Meg Peyton Jones, said: “Scotland is financially and politically tied to a destructive and dying industry: this does not have to be the case, and we call on the government for a just transition away from oil, led by the workers rather than corporations.
"A 2019 survey by a coalition of green charities showed nearly 70% of British people want urgent political action on climate change. The 2020 Offshore survey of oil and gas workers in Scotland showed that 81% would consider moving industries, with over half saying they would move to renewables given the chance.
"The Scottish Government must choose oil or choose life.”
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