CLIMATE protesters hope an upcoming blockade will have the same impact as a truckers’ blockade in 2000 which led to fuel shortages across Scotland.
On Saturday Climate Camp Scotland plans to stage a day of action aimed at halting fuel supplies getting out of the Ineos Kinneil Terminal in Grangemouth.
The camp, which is expected to be Scotland’s biggest protest encampment in a decade, has pitched up just one mile from the oil refinery.
Set up in Kinneil Park in Bo’ness, near Falkirk, community groups and climate activists assembled on Wednesday for a “people-powered festival of resistance”.
Scottish Retail Consortium director David Lonsdale has said members such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s would do “everything they can to minimise any potential short-term impact on supplies of fuel”.
Climate Camp Scotland said hundreds of people have registered to take part with participants representing Ecuador, India, the Netherlands and Ukraine as well as all corners of Scotland.
Dylan Welsh, a climate campaigner who is taking part in the camp, said: “It’s fantastic that Grangemouth has been chosen as the location for this year’s Climate Camp.
“It’s an opportunity for residents and the wider Falkirk community to come together and push back on Ineos’s polluting presence making it clear to Jim Ratcliffe that continuing to enrich himself at the expense of his workers and the planet is no longer an option.
“It’s a chance for Grangemouth to begin looking to a cleaner and healthier future free from the oil and gas giant.”
On Thursday and Friday, there will be multiple training sessions and events within the camp.
Jess Gaitan Johannesson, of Climate Camp Scotland, said: “Communities and workers will be coming together at our biggest ever climate camp to organise and take action in Grangemouth.
“We do not accept sky high bills, polluted air and a collapsing climate.
“This energy system is failing us, but Scotland and Grangemouth can transition to sustainable industry and jobs and we’re going to drive that change together.
“We invite everyone who can to take part: whether you just want to pop along to see what’s happening or to camp with us for the whole event. This camp will show how powerful we can be when we act together.”
The group say Ineos “refused” to participate in a parliamentary inquiry about transition at the Grangemouth site.
The company has been contacted for comment.
