A SCOTTISH oil terminal has been blockaded by environmental protesters calling for all new oil and gas projects to be scrapped.
Just Stop Oil supporters prevented access to the Nustar Clydebank facility in West Dunbartonshire by climbing on top of tankers and locking on to the entrance at around 4am on Tuesday.
Others entered the oil terminal, where 12 protesters are sitting on pipes and three are on the silos to halt operations.
The activists said they are taking action in support of their demand that the UK Government ends new oil and gas projects in the UK.
It is the first action its kind in Scotland since the Just Stop Oil coalition began blockading fuel terminals south of the Border on April 1, which has led to more than 1000 arrests.
At approx 4am today around 40 #JustStopOil supporters blockaded the entrance to the Nustar Clydebank oil terminal in Glasgow.#StopNewOilAndGas #FundTheAlternatives pic.twitter.com/ctyuJ0co0Q
— JustStopOil (@JustStop_Oil) May 3, 2022
Neil Rothnie, 69, a retired offshore oil and gas worker from Glasgow, said: “North Sea oil and gas does not offer energy security. The North Sea oil and gas industry has one priority and it is not the climate crisis. It’s not the future of North Sea oil and gas workers.
“And it’s certainly not whether the poor can stay warm. If the Government was serious about a just transition, we would be seeing it here in Scotland.
“Where are the turbine factories in Scotland? Where are the yards building platforms for offshore wind? Where are the projects to properly insulate our houses? When will we get free public transport?”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Officers are currently engaging with a group of people who are carrying out a protest at Rothesay Dock in Clydebank, which was reported to police around 4.10am on Tuesday 3 May 2022.
“Police Scotland is a rights-based organisation that puts our values of integrity, fairness, respect and a commitment to upholding human rights at the heart of everything we do.
“This means that we will protect the rights of people who wish to peacefully protest or counter-protest, balanced against the rights of the wider community.”
A UK Government spokesman added: “We will not bend to the will of activists who naively want to extinguish North Sea oil and gas production.
“Doing so would put energy security and British jobs at risk, and simply increases foreign imports, whilst not reducing demand.
“We are committed to a strong North Sea industry as we transition away from expensive fossil fuels over the coming decades, and our recent British Energy Security Strategy sets out a long-term plan to ramp up cheap renewables and nuclear energy.”
