In the early 90s, protestors took a stand against the plans to build the M77 motorway through Pollok Park.
Colin MacLeod, who became known as the Birdman of Pollok, led the protests - hoping to stop the new road from tearing down public parkland.
Colin began a tree top protest, taking him and his family into a treehouse in the Pollok Estate to prove his point.
It all started when he spent nine days up a tree, looking to protect the area which he and his brothers had spent as children.
When the then Strathclyde Regional Council was looking to rip down some of the trees to make way for the road, Colin’s time in up in the woods brought attention from around the world.
Before long, the protest had brought together local people with environmental activists - and the Pollok Free State was born.
Over time the Pollok Free State grew into several camps across the area, with passports and camp rules issues.
Colin had created not only one of the most powerful protests Glasgow has seen, but birthed a new community that was fighting for the use of public space.
The proposed motorway would skirt Cowglen Golf Club, instead knocking down five schools which served children from council estates - which protestors viewed as favouring the rich.
Additionally, the finished road would cut Pollok locals away from the park.
For Colin, this was a major factor in his protest - his family had been given council housing in Pollok, one of the four large housing estates built in the 50s and 60s.
The Pollok Estate had benefited families who had spent years in inner city tenements, with wide open spaces and woods which the wealthy Maxwell family had gifted to Glasgow on the basis it remained in public domain.
So when the announcement of the M77 came, just as he did in his childhood - Colin went up a tree in the Pollok Country Park.
Speaking to local TV at the time, he said: “We’re here to teach people that there’s something we can do, by getting in front of the builders and showing politicians that if you refuse to listen to us, we’re not going away.”
Local school children went on strike from school after finding out their buildings were set to be demolished, taking part in conversations in the Pollok Free State about the history of Scotland with the backdrop of Gaelic music.
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The whole community was involved in one way or another, with protestors blocking roads and hundreds marching against the motorway.
Despite the attention surrounding the campaign, Colin’s efforts were futile.
The camp’s inhabitants were pushed out by private bailiffs supported by police, followed by the tearing of chainsaws as they ripped down trees.
Author Darren McGarvey, who was involved in the protests, recalled: “It is not the fact that the motorway ended up getting built that everyone remembers - or the fact that we lost.
“It is the feeling of connected-ness that people felt when they were down there.
“That is what life is all about, win or lose.”
After the protest wrapped up, Pollok Free Estate created GalGael.
Known as the ‘free child of Pollok Park’, the movement used Gaelic history for inner-city renewal in Glasgow.
Colin brought in individuals suffering with addictions to be involved in projects such as building traditional birlinn boats, making the structures so they could float down the Clyde.
In 2005, Colin passed away at the age of 39.
600 mourners walked behind a handmade coffin, designed by the team at GalGael.
Now entering their 25th year the charity is continuing to help bring people together for a common task, benefitting the marginalised and disenfranchised people of Glasgow.
