Extinction Rebellion protest outside Mansefield Hotel in Elgin
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A GROUP of climate change protesters made their voices heard in Elgin yesterday as energy bosses met in the town.
Extinction Rebellion members were protesting outside the Mansefield on Tuesday as BP executives held a lunchtime meeting.
Five members of local groups, three from Inverness, one from Kinloss and one from Forres, were present and held banners with the words "climate emergency" and "rebel for life" written on them.
Simon MacLardie, 51, was one of those involved. He told the Northern Scot: "We object to the fact that BP and similar companies spend millions lobbying against meaningful climate legislation to tackle global warming. They publicly support climate action while secretly lobbying against any binding policy.
"We understand they have been keeping the county running and are grateful for the service of the past but now we have a climate emergency. They need to change now and shift their resources to renewables."
Mr MacLardie added the number present would have been higher than five if not for a protest which many locals travelled to in Glasgow on Monday night.
The Scottish Council of Development and Industry organised the meeting at the Mansefield and Fraser Grieve, the company's Highlands and Islands director, came out to meet the protesters – who were given water and offered tea and coffee.
Speaking to the group, he said: "There is no doubt there is a huge amount of change happening and we have set up this discussion today to look at that". But that didn't please Extinction Rebellion, who quizzed him on his knowledge of BP before Andrew Heath added: "it needs radical change now, the time for talking is over" before accusing him of "repeating the same statement 12 times".
The discussion between Mr Grieve and the protesters lasted for about ten minutes.
Afterwards, speaking to the press present, he added: "Our role is to try and look at what the future looks like for the Scottish economy and have discussions around that. We try to do that in an open and frank way.
"Having people express strongly held views is something we should welcome and embrace. We are trying to have a dialogue about what the future of energy in the north of Scotland might look like."
Mr Grieve said a mixture of companies and businesses were present at the Mansefield. Extinction Rebellion were outside the building for about an hour.
