Climate protest is chalked off Cleaners brought in to erase slogans
Climate change activists say street cleaners were deployed within 30 minutes to clean off slogans chalked on pavements during a protest.
Global Justice Stirling, a society established at Stirling University, held a protest last Friday to tie in with the global climate strike declared by Fridays For Future for March 19.
As well as banners, the members chalked messages on city centre paving.
But they were astounded when just half an hour later Stirling Council sent street sweepers to remove the images - which would have been washed away in the next rainfall.
A spokesperson for the society said: “Our society felt that a static protest was needed in order to put climate change back at the centre of the public debate, now that we are slowly starting to see the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel.
“Moreover, Because of the imminent COP26 [UN climate change conference] we believe Scotland needs to lead the way toward a more sustainable world where the interests of people and the environment are prioritised over profits.
“Our protest was obviously organised with Covid-19 safety in mind. It consisted of a banner drop at the intersection between Port Street and King Street, the core centre of Stirling.
“We put up different placards together with the banner, and we drew feet on the ground with chalks to represent the people that would have participated at the protest if it wasn’t for the pandemic. We also drew on the floor around the banner different slogans.
“However, after less than half an hour from our banner drop, Stirling Council sent two street sweepers to clean all our drawings and slogans that would have been otherwise washed away by the rain.”
The spokesperson added that the protest was otherwise a success, with a lot of engagement by bystanders.
But the council’s action was perceived as being “not a very welcoming stance by a council that claims to have climate change as a priority”.
“Is this how the Stirling community would like their public money spent on something that the rain would have washed away for free? We do not believe so,” added the spokesperson.
Stirling Council, however, say the cleaning was carried out after someone contacted them.
A council spokesperson said: “The council received a complaint from a member of the public that this part of the historic city centre had been covered with chalk, which the council’s street cleaning team responded to.
“Tackling climate change remains at the top of the council’s agenda and we have recently published the first draft of our Climate and Nature Emergency Plan which puts the discussion around climate change at the centre of public debate.
“This document is open to all via the Engage Stirling Platform and will be a major driver in Stirling’s efforts to address the climate crisis.
“We are asking the public for their views on the plan as we can only avert climate change through collective action.”
Is this how the Stirling community would like their public money spent - on something that the rain would have washed away for free?