Ten Greenpeace activists have been arrested after ending a protest on the Forth Road Bridge, where they suspended themselves to block a tanker carrying fracked gas. The bridge near Edinburgh was closed on Friday after the activists climbed ropes and hung about 25 metres above the water at high tide.
Police Scotland were alerted shortly after 1pm on Friday. The protest targeted the tanker, which was heading to the Ineos petrochemical plant in Grangemouth. Greenpeace said the demonstration prevented the vessel from delivering gas for a full 24 hours, as it could only travel during high tides.
On Saturday morning, the activists began descending and were voluntarily transported to Port Edgar in South Queensferry, where they were arrested on suspicion of culpable and reckless conduct. Greenpeace confirmed all ten descended safely.
Amy Cameron, programme director at Greenpeace UK, said: “We’ve achieved what we set out to. By blocking Ineos, we’ve drawn global attention to the company’s bottomless appetite for plastic production, false solutions and profit for its billionaire boss Jim Ratcliffe.”
Cameron highlighted the plastic pollution problem, noting less than 10% of plastic is recycled globally, with projections suggesting only 17% by 2060 while production triples. She called for a strong global plastics treaty with legally-binding caps on production, and criticised Ineos for cutting jobs at Grangemouth while opening a new plastics plant in Belgium.
Greenpeace insisted the protest was safe and caused minimal disruption, stating activists had spent weeks training. The Forth Road Bridge carries low volumes of bus, cycle and pedestrian traffic.
