Climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion group have staged a “die in” at Glasgow Central railway station as part of a nationwide day of protests.
Commuters yesterday were met by around a dozen members of the campaign group, some as young as 13, who gathered in Scotland’s busiest train station shortly before midday and then lay on the main concourse pretending to be dead.
They held up signs urging “boycott fast fashion” before moving on to protest outside the St Enoch shopping centre, Primark on Argyle Street and Princes Square shopping centre, where they also staged a die-in.
The stunt, which coincided with larger protests in London, aimed to highlight the dangers to the environment of so-called “fast fashion”.
The term relates to buying cheaplyproduced clothes and shoes which are sometimes only worn once before being thrown away.
The “fast fashion” industry has been criticised for contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, water and air pollution, and poor working conditions for those manufacturing the items.
One of the activists, 16-year-old Aislinn Hastings, said: “Today is mostly about getting the word out against fast fashion, which is a massive contribution to pollution globally and just to get more youth to get involved with Extinction Rebellion.
“It’s our future that’s going to be affected so we really want to get as many people to see us and our message as possible today.”
She added that the group have had a “mixed” reaction to their demonstrations.
“Some people are great, they see us and they join in even – we had people lying down with us at central station,” Aislinn said.
“But some people are very angry about the disruption, even though there is going to be so much more disruption when things collapse and there’s no food and money doesn’t really mean anything.”
Tony McCrossan, a 43-year-old who was shopping in Princes Square, was sceptical about the protests.
He said: “The climate crisis is bad, we need to do a lot. “But the rebellion won’t change anything, the way they’re just lying there.”
It came as footage of an Extinction Rebellion protester in London went viral after he scaled scaffolding surrounding Ben Ben, while dressed up as Boris Johnson.
Ben Atkinson, a 43-year-old tree surgeon, who climbed the landmark wearing a blond wig, shirt, tie, and jacket, said he had been inspired by Greta Thunberg.
When he reached the top, he draped two banners from the structure. One featured the Extinction Rebellion logo on a rainbow background and the words “No pride on a dead planet”, and the other said “Citizens Assembly”.
Posting on Facebook, he urged the PM to “do something that could last for centuries”. A spokesman for Extinction Rebellion said Mr Atkinson’s climb was to highlight Government inaction on the climate and ecological emergency.
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