RESIDENTS of 33 homes within the cordon around the fire-destroyed Glasgow School of Art protested today for the right to access their properties to retrieve belongings.

The properties remain evacuated following the blaze which tore through the Mackintosh Building on June 15, and residents and business owners have been warned by Police Scotland that they could be arrested if they try to access the surrounding buildings.

Glasgow City Council said that parts of the art school are at risk of “sudden, unannounced collapse” and it is being dismantled on safety grounds.

A Notice of Entry form circulated by the Garnethill Displaced Residents Group and Sauchiehall Street Inner Cordon Business demands “an orderly and peaceful” access to their properties for a period of up to 20 minutes “having full understanding and recognition of the risks associated therewith.”

Members of the groups marched in Glasgow with banners.

The fire took hold amid a major restoration project following another large blaze at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed art school in 2014.