G8 protestors target oil refinery

More than 150 G8 demonstrators gathered outside Scotland’s biggest oil refinery today.

Police said they were prepared to deal with trouble but did not expect a repeat of the violent scenes on the streets of Edinburgh yesterday.

Around 20 officers from Central Scotland Police were guarding the perimeter of the BP plant at Grangemouth, near Falkirk, but dozens of riot police from other forces were in reserve nearby.

The campaigners from Friends of the Earth Scotland and People & Planet are calling for the decommissioning of oil plants to avert irreversible climate damage.

Chief inspector Alan Moffat said: “We’re looking for this to be a low-key event. There’s been a lot of work done between ourselves, the demonstrators and the owners of the plant.

“This is private property so we are hoping that everything goes according to plan and it will be a huge disappointment for both police and protesters if this was disrupted by any unwelcome elements.

“Of course we have plans in place to ensure that if any of those elements arrive they will be dealt with effectively. This is our community and we don’t want troublemakers turning up to spoil things.”