EXTINCTION Rebellion (XR) Scotland activists scaled the walls of the Scottish Parliament today to drop a banner over Holyrood highlighting the collusion between fossil-fuel companies, the finance sector and government.

The banner, proclaiming “Choose Oil or Choose Life,” was draped above the public entrance to the Edinburgh building as part of XR’s Make the Connections campaign

The protest coincided with Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance at First Minister’s Questions. Bus-stop advertising boards in Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Stirling were also targeted with similar messages on Thursday morning.

Campaigners plan to continue actions throughout October, warning that fossil-fuel companies, backed by the finance sector and government, will “lock us into a future marred by climate and ecological breakdown.”

Activist Meg Peyton Jones, a biologist from Edinburgh, said: “Scotland is financially and politically tied to a destructive and dying industry.

“This does not have to be the case, and we call on the government for a just transition away from oil, led by the workers rather than corporations.”

The group also hit out at the Scottish government’s intention to “maximise economic recovery” of oil and gas reserves, planning to extract a further 20 billion barrels of oil. 

XR’s Myke Hall said: “If the Scottish government really wants to be a world leader on the climate emergency it needs to stop pretending that big fossil fuel companies are part of the solution. 

“They serve the bank accounts of billionaire shareholders, not the workers, not the people of Scotland, and certainly not those suffering today in the areas most affected.”