ARRESTS have been made after police officers were spray painted during COP26 protests in the centre of Glasgow.
Police hit out at the “totally unacceptable” behaviour which they said targeted a number of officers.
There have been multiple demonstrations through the city as the UN climate summit continues, including ones organised by Extinction Rebellion (XR) and another which saw indigenous peoples march on the COP26 venue.
Police did not specifically say which protest those arrested had been involved in.
Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie issued a statement following the arrests.
He said: "During one of these protests, a number of officers were assaulted after being sprayed with paint. Two arrests have been made in relation to this so far and cans of spray paint have been seized.
READ MORE: Damning 'royal hypocrite' billboards roll out across Scotland
"Police Scotland is a rights-based organisation that puts our values of integrity, fairness, respect and a commitment to upholding human rights at the heart of everything we do.
"This means that we will protect the rights of people who wish to peacefully protest or counter-protest at COP26, balanced against the rights of the wider community. We will provide a proportionate policing response to any protest and violence will not be tolerated.
“Assaults on officers, who put their safety at risk every day to keep the public safe and have adopted a facilitative and rights-based approach to protest, is totally unacceptable.
"The protests have caused some delay with travel through the city centre and officers remain on scene."
XR protesters have also staged a sit-in outside the SSE energy firm’s office in the centre of Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article