Two climate protestors from This is Rigged painted the front of the Scottish Parliament on Thursday to call attention to “the government’s criminal inaction on the climate crisis”.
The group is calling on Holyrood to oppose all new fossil fuel projects in Scotland and create a clear, fully-funded, transition for oil and gas workers.
The group have been disrupting First Minister's Questions since January however new restrictions on entering the gallery mean that last week suspected protesters, even those with the necessary paperwork, were barred. This has led to the change in tactics.
READ MORE: This Is Rigged: Why we plan to shut-down oil infrastructure
Ellie McFadden from This is Rigged told The Herald that the group is “changing tactics not because of the bans but because it has become very clear that trying to talk to or plead to politicians does not work.”
“Instead we are escalating, to force the change we want to see, we are no longer just asking nicely. We will take our disruption to the streets, to the media, to culture and to the oil infrastructure itself.
"We will do whatever it non-violently takes to bring about the change we so desperately need to see. We will continue to follow moral rules not the rules of the law and if that means being arrested then so be it.”
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A spokesperson for This is Rigged said: “We are committed to taking whatever nonviolent action is necessary to end the injustice of continued oil and gas licensing.
Read More: Brian Wilson: We need to have a serious talk about the North Sea
"This fight is about so much more than First Minister’s Questions - it is about survival. This is the fight for basic rights and dignity for all living beings. Ordinary people in Scotland are stepping into civil resistance because we have been left with no choice. Politics has failed us.
"As citizens of Scotland, one of the world’s largest producers of oil and gas, we refuse to be complicit in one of the greatest atrocities in human history. People in frontline communities are facing the repercussions of our inaction on a daily basis. We are hurtling towards the total collapse of the systems that sustain life on earth.
Read More: Threat to Scottish fuel supplies as climate campaigners escalate
"Now is not the time for fear and intimidation - it is the time for action."
Last week in an exclusive interview with The Herald This is Rigged pledged to “shut down the oil industry” by carrying out blockades of oil and gas infrastructure this summer.
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