An Extinction Rebellion activist believes police in the north are getting the balance right in terms of how they deal with climate protests.

Elliott Blaauw says the lower rank officers are less likely to intervene and “over react”.

“It’s not like I’m praising the cops or anything,” says the 68-year-old activist.

“It’s not like we’ve really tested them with anything serious, but the way I see it, the lower down they are the more likely they are to just let us get on with it and not over react, because they’ve got other things to manage on the street.

“But, if a higher up cop says intervene then they will just do what the higher up guys say. It’s difficult to nuance but in general the north officers on the ground just see us for what we are.”

Funeral procession

It comes on the eve of the group’s preparations for tomorrow’s ‘funeral procession’ for wildlife species being lost to climate change, when protestors will march at midday, clad in black and carrying a coffin, from the Town House to Falcon Square.

Mr Blaauw said the event would be staged as a piece of peaceful street theatre.

“Bees, fish, birds, insects, amphibians, the numbers are all in decline and that’s symptomatic of how we are degrading the natural environment,” says Mr Blaauw.

“We have got to do something, we’re in a climate and ecological disaster.”

He added: “We play a straight bat and the police here now understand that we’re not just a crowd of hooligans out for a rammy.

“We’re serious-mined people, we’ve got nurses and doctors among us, and all sorts of concerned citizens.”

‘Quite cuddly’

“I think the local police think we’re quite cuddly really, they can see we’re not wicked but that we are very concerned about the climate,” continued Mr Blaauw.

“And let’s face it, if you’re not concerned about the climate then either you’re not paying attention or you’ve got a vested interest or you’re the one who’s wicked.”

Mr Blaauw is a long-running activist with Extinction Rebellion in the north who was one of 15 who co-founded the original Scottish Green Party.

Locally, the group’s protests have not involved violence or serious disruption to residents and business.

There have been mass protests at Falcon Square in Inverness before the pandemic.

And members have been peacefully and creatively drawing attention to rising sea levels this summer.

The climate activists took part in creative performance including an Edwardian tea party to highlight sea level rise ahead of G7 Summit in June.

This is the way forward, says Mr Blaauw.

“I’ve been on enough protest marches in the past to realise that people just shrug that off so we have go to do something different.”

The climate crisis is also playing out across domestic politics with Nicola Sturgeon calling this week on the UK Government to “reassess” oil and gas licences already issued – including the controversial Cambo development near Shetland.

The first minister had previously stopped short of unequivocally opposing the proposed development, despite being confronted by protesters.