
Ten arrested after Greenpeace activists hang from Forth Road Bridge
Police Scotland closed the bridge in South Queensferry to all traffic following reports of the protest around 1.05pm on Friday.
Greenpeace say ten protesters suspended off the structure with the aim of stopping an INEOS tanker from reaching Grangemouth oil refinery.
The Greenpeace climbers abseiled from beneath the bridge's service walkway, unfurling six giant 'Plastics Treaty Now' banners.
Police confirmed on Saturday that ten people, five men aged between 35 and 40, and five women, aged between 25 and 42, were arrested in connection.
Enquiries remain ongoing.
A spokesperson said: 'Ten people have been arrested following a protest on the Forth Road Bridge on Fri, 25 July. The protest was reported to police around 1.05pm.
'Five men, aged between 35 and 40, and five women, aged between 25 and 42, were arrested in connection and further enquiries are ongoing.'
On Saturday morning Greenpeace announced it had ended the demonstration, saying they had 'achieved what we set out to'.
Amy Cameron, Programme Director at Greenpeace UK said: 'We've achieved what we set out to. By blocking INEOS, we've drawn global attention to the company's bottomless appetite for plastic production, false solutions and profit for its billionaire boss Jim Ratcliffe.
'Their feeble suggestion that recycling and managing waste can hand them a free pass to go on producing more plastic forever is laughable. It comes from the same industry playbook as the health benefits of smoking and carbon offsetting.
Describing the 'plastic pollution problem' as being 'massive', she added: 'Less than 10% of plastic is currently recycled globally, and this is set to rise to just 17% by 2060, while the amount of plastic we're producing is set to triple.
'The only solution is to address the problem at source which means securing a strong global plastics treaty that imposes legally-binding caps on plastic production.'
'INEOS are cutting jobs at Grangemouth while trying to open a massive new plastics plant in Belgium, leaving Scottish workers high and dry. If Jim Ratcliffe really cared about skilled jobs in Scotland he'd invest his billions in supporting his workers to transition into the green industries of the future, instead of throwing money at Formula 1 racing teams and football clubs.'
Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Woman jailed for leaving eight starving dogs to eat each other in hellhole flat
Stacey Harris, 39, was jailed for eight months and banned from ever owning dogs again after seven dogs died when they were starved and left in a filthy abandoned flat Seven dogs horrifically died after they were left in a filthy hellhole flat as a woman has been jailed over the shocking cruelty. Stacey Harris, 39, left eight dogs to die in disgusting conditions inside an abandoned flat in Dundee. The 39-year-old had starved the animals for at least two months and failed to provide food or seek treatment for painful eye and ear infections. Only one dog managed to survive the appalling conditions the suffering animals had been kept in. Harris appeared in Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday and was handed an eight month jail sentence and a lifetime ban from owning or keeping dogs. It comes after a dad died in a scalding hot bath as his family slam a hotel's management for 'ignoring warnings'. She was found guilty of seven charges - six of causing unnecessary suffering and one of failing to meet basic welfare needs, according to the Daily Record. A probe was launched by the SSPCA after a tip-off was made about suspected dog abandonment in October 2024. A Scottish SPCA inspector said "We received a complaint that a property had been abandoned and the dogs inside had not been attended to for over a week." When officers arrived at the property, they could see an emaciated Sharpei-type dog with visibly infected eyes. The flat was said to have an overwhelming smell of faeces and urine, with the entire property being was littered with dog excrement, rubbish, and debris. A tan and white American Bulldog - the sole survivor - was so malnourished it could not walk and had to be carried out. A vet later said the dog had recently given birth and was suffering from dehydration, skin, and ear infections that had gone untreated for weeks. She was also extremely underweight, with ribs, spine, and hip bones visible. The SSPCA have not seen any report of the pregnancy or about the puppies of the surviving bulldog. After walking upstairs, inspectors found the remains of a dead Sharpie dog stuck in a bedroom doorway. The second dead dog, a Sharpei cross, was found lying on the floor of the second bedroom surrounded by dog faeces, empty dog food bags and rubbish. The bodies of a 12-year-old chihuahua and year old Sharpei were never found and were presumed eaten. Three other one year and four months old Sharpei-type dogs, who were all emaciated, were removed from the property using specialist equipment. They were later euthanised on welfare grounds due to the severity of their untreated conditions. The bodies of the two dead Sharpei dogs were taken for postmortem which confirmed both had died from prolonged starvation. An inspector added: "This was an extremely distressing case where multiple animals suffered unnecessarily for a prolonged period which could have been easily avoided by contacting an animal welfare organisation for help if needed. "It is hard to comprehend how any individual cannot attend to their own pets knowing they were locked up in a property. As a result, the Scottish SPCA and the Inspector involved are very pleased with Harris's sentencing and hope it acts as a deterrent to others."


Scottish Sun
11 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Major Scots motorway closed after horror crash as emergency crews race to scene
Commuters have been urged to avoid the area and use an alternative route MOTORWAY SMASH Major Scots motorway closed after horror crash as emergency crews race to scene A SECTION of a busy Scottish motorway is currently closed after a horror crash, sparking traffic chaos. Emergency crews raced to the scene on the M74 in Glasgow at around 9am this morning. 2 The crash happened on the M74 just after Junction 1 Credit: GOOGLE MAPS The crash happened after Junction 1 at the Kingston Interchange, heading northbound. It is currently unknown if anyone has been injured as a result of the incident. However, a section of the motorway just after the junction is currently closed to drivers as police deal with the incident. Traffic Scotland has warned that motorists are being diverted off the M74 at Junction 1. Commuters have been urged to avoid the area and use an alternative route. Police are currently at the scene of the crash. Drivers have been warned to expect delays and allow extra time for their journey. Posting X, formerly known as Twitter this morning, Traffic Scotland wrote: "M74 is currently closed northbound after Junction 1 due to a road traffic collision. "Police are on scene and traffic is being diverted off at Junction 1." It added: "Motorists are advised to use an alternate route and should allow extra time for their journey." Armed police swarm 'disturbance' on Scots street as man and woman charged Amey SW Trunk Roads also took to social media to warn drivers of the crash. It posted on X: "M74 J1 northbound remains closed due to RTC. Please use alternative route." Police Scotland has been contacted for comment.


The Herald Scotland
15 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
All feminist Fife novelist Val McDermid's work is absolutely criminal
My own view is that violence should be eradicated from humanity. Using violence if necessary. However, I won't allow such disturbing intuitions to prejudice my assessment of an esteemed and talented writer whose tales of blood and gore have brought so much pleasure to so many people. Val McDermid, the gifted scribe under advisement, committed no crime when she born on 4 June 1955, allegedly in Kirkcaldy, the St Moritz of Fife. Her father was a shipyard worker, later an insurance agent, and also a scout for top Fife footer team, Raith Rovers. Val in turn was devoted to the plucky wee club, becoming a sponsor and board member until the signing of a player accused of rape. McDermid then transferred her support to the women's team, who had also severed ties with the club and who subsequently renamed themselves McDermid Ladies. McDermid has described her family as 'ordinary working class', adding: 'We weren't dirt poor but there was no spare money kicking around. While it was very much understood that the way to a better life was through education, books were a luxury we couldn't afford.' However, her grandparents had the Bible, whose begats did not engage her, and Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage, first step on the slippery slope. At the age of six, her family moved to a house opposite a public library, and this became 'home from home' for the avid wee reader. (Image: Gordon Terris) Well schooled FAST-TRACKED onto a scheme for promising proles, she found herself at 16 being interviewed at Oxford, a posh English university rather like St Andrews. Having read the Chalet School books, she was not totally unprepared and became the first person from a Scottish state school to be offered a place at St Hilda's college. She has described the joint as not 'in the slightest snobbish', telling the Daily Record in 2016 that 'people didn't care if your father was a dustman or a duke'. That said, unlike your common or garden duke, she had to tame her broad Fife accent to make herself intelligible. Despite the handicap of a degree in English, McDermid became a journalist, working for two years on the Daily Record, where she was known as 'Killer', before joining the Sunday People in Manchester. Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, she recalled using 'skills and wiles' to get quotes, and gaining access to press-besieged houses by asking to use the toilet. In 14 years reporting crime and death, she covered the Yorkshire Ripper, the aftermath of the Moors murders, the Hillsborough disaster and Lockerbie. Despite fine campaigns exposing animal experiments and abuse in old people's homes, the People 'followed the News of the World into the gutter', with the last straw for Val coming when she had to stake out a Coronation Street actor's house 'to see who came out of the back door'. Her get-out came when, inspired by feminist private eye novels coming out of the US in the 80s, her first novel, Report for Murder, featuring Lindsay Gordon, was published in 1987. It heralded the start of a stellar career producing dozens of books, selling more than 11 million copies translated into more than 30 languages. Gordon is a cynical, left-wing, lesbian journalist, and McDermid believes she was just 'in the right place at the right time with the right book'. Indeed, today, when nearly everybody is a lesbian, it's no big deal. Lindsay Gordon spawned a series, as did Kate Brannigan (private investigator), Tony Hill (clinical psychologist) and DCI Carol Jordan, DCI Karen Pirie and Allie Burns (investigative reporter). The Hill and Jordan series in particular is known for graphic depictions of violence and torture. A quick look on Mumsnet finds women admiring McDermid's stance on Raith Rovers but deploring the violence in her books. 12 angry men HOWEVER, McDermid find it 'funny' that, while women suffer nearly all sexual violence, folk think they shouldn't write violent fiction. When a feminist writer claimed her books were full of gratuitous violence towards women, she pointed out that, at that time, they'd involved 12 men, 12 women and one transsexual. 'How's that for equal opportunities?' One Hill and Jordan novel, Insidious Intent, sees the intrepid duo chasing a serial killer who picks up women at weddings and murders them. More wholesomely, Splinter the Silence deals with the misogynistic trolling of women online. McDermid has described misogynistic trolls as 'bawbags' The Hill and Jordan series was adapted for television under the rubric Wire in the Blood (a quote from T.S. Eliot) The Karen Pirie books have also been more recently adapted for television, the current series seeing her investigate the kidnapping of an oil heiress and her infant son from a place where only the bravest venture: a Fife chippie. Pirie has been described as a 'ballsy detective' who, sassy and overweight, hails from Fife and stomps the streets of Leith on her own at night. McDermid says she has 'no issues' writing male characters – 'some of my best friends are men' – and says her books 'have never been about being a lesbian'. That's just one aspect of life, she says. She is a feminist, which today can denote someone espousing women's rights or someone putting these at risk, and a socialist, which today can denote someone keen to tax the rich or someone keen to tax the proletariat with ideological inanity. READ MORE Rab McNeil: Get your Boots on, we're going shopping for unicorn hair gel Rab McNeil: No wonder the whole Scottish nation loves Nicola (no, not that one) Scottish Icons: William McGonagall - The poet who right bad verses wrote still floats some folk's vessel or boat Scottish Icons: There is a lot of tripe talked about haggis – so here's the truth Besties SHE'S reportedly besties with both Nicola Sturgeon and J.K. Rowling who, intriguingly, hold opposing views on the great defining issue of the age: lavatories. But we're not going to go into that. She's an enthusiast for literary festivals but, as reported in The Herald earlier this week, accused writers who protested investment firm Baillie Gifford's sponsorship of book festivals such as Edinburgh's of 'virtue signalling' and 'staggering' levels of hypocrisy. Well spotted. She has a morgue named after her at Dundee University, something that makes her 'very proud'. She maintains that crime fiction lets readers 'be afraid but in a safe way' and is 'just fascinated with the reasons people do terrible things to each other'. In reality, as opposed to fiction, she's squeamish and can't stand the sight of blood. Bless.