Charges against National Museum climate protesters dropped

Climate change activists from Extinction Rebellion who disrupted a posh dinner for oil executives at the National Museum of Scotland have had charges against them dropped.
Extinction Rebellion Scotland protesters occupied the National Museum Scotland to disrupt Scottish Oil Club dinnerExtinction Rebellion Scotland protesters occupied the National Museum Scotland to disrupt Scottish Oil Club dinner
Extinction Rebellion Scotland protesters occupied the National Museum Scotland to disrupt Scottish Oil Club dinner

The four protesters, who ranged in age from 22 to 59 years old, were arrested on March 8 after a non-violent protest at the Scottish Oil Club dinner in Edinburgh.

Some 890 oil execs from the oil and gas industry had gathered at the networking event, where a seat costs £125, when it was disrupted by activists, including some who were chained together with bicycle D locks.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It took police three hours to remove all the protesters, including four who were charged under Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

But they have learnt that the Procurator Fiscal had thrown out the charges, and they will face no further action.

Artist Naomi Scott, 24, said the decision not to press charges was "amazing news."

Ms Scott said: "The companies that sent people to sit at expensive dinner tables that night are responsible for the crisis that we are facing.

"I was arrested that night because we were defending our right to life and to a future by using our right to peacefully protest.

"We are resisting extinction here. It's amazing news that the Procurator Fiscal has decided to not take this any further.

"It happened in a landscape where climate change is more and more on the agenda, and it's incredible to see public opinion and awareness changing."

The dinner eventually went ahead but was further disrupted by an undercover activist who was working as a waiter.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

During the after dinner speeches he unveiled a banner reading 'Thank you for our suicide' and dropped it from a balcony, before being arrested.

Another activist who learnt no charges would be pressed, Ali Orr, 27, added: "The National Museum of Scotland belongs to everyone, and it's our right to say that it shouldn't be a playground for companies with a shocking list of human rights abuses and ecocide to celebrate."

And anthropologist Justin Kenrick, 59, said: "At the National Museum, we were arrested for delaying the Oil Club dinner.

"The delay gave many members of the public the chance to ask oil industry executives how they could perpetuate an industry that is destroying their children's future.

"The Procurator Fiscal has said that our cases are to be marked as no further proceedings.

"Clearly we have no case to answer, but the oil industry certainly does."

The activists held a People's Assembly focusing on the damage done to the world by the fossil fuel industry and paths to transition away from it immediately.

Some left when threatened with arrest by the police.

But 13 stayed until they were arrested, including some that were chained together with bicycle D locks.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Student Rohan Stevenson, 22, said: "It has, so far, been much too easy for the members of the Scottish Oil Club to turn a blind eye to the ecological destruction inflicted by their industry, with the impacts of fossil fuel extraction disproportionately impacting on the most vulnerable members of society.

"I was arrested in the National Museum for supposedly causing fear and alarm, a charge that has since been dropped. Ironically, I remain afraid of and alarmed at the crisis the Scottish Oil Club is leading us towards."

On April 16, another, 29 activists from Extinction Rebellion Scotland were arrested at the North Bridge road block as part of the International Rebellion.

Of those arrested, 26 are being charged with breach of the peace, and another three with Section 38.

They are cited to due to appear in Edinburgh Sheriff Court in three groups on May 14, 15 and 16.