ALL 14 people who were arrested after a group of environmental protesters staged an occupation to disrupt the annual dinner of the Scottish Oil Club, have had their cases dropped, it has been claimed.
Extinction Rebellion Scotland say that that the "non-violent activists" were arrested for threatening and abusive behaviour under Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 but a Procurator Fiscal has marked cases a ‘no further proceedings’.
Extinction Rebellion Scotland took their action at the National Museum of Scotland which was to play host to nearly 900 fossil fuel industry leaders as part of urgent action in the face of what it calls 'climate breakdown'.
Instead a group of 20 activists from the protest group occupied the main hall in an attempt to hoping to get the event cancelled.
A protest was also being held outside the museum, where people gathered to celebrate an alternative, fossil fuel-free future.
The members of the Scottish Oil Club include representatives of companies such as Shell, Total and BP.
The environmental activist group said that while some had left the hall protest when threatened with arrest by the police, 13 stayed and were arrested, with some chained with bicycle D locks.
READ MORE: Extinction Rebellion protests: 29 arrested in Edinburgh
They says it took three hours for the police to remove all protesters. Later that night, another Extinction Rebellion Scotland activist who had been working at the event as a waiter dropped and held a banner from the balcony during the dinner speeches reading 'Thank You For Our Suicide'. He was also arrested.
Extinction Rebellion video of police intervention at Scottish Oil Club Dinner protest
One of the protesters, 24-year-old artist Naomi Scott said: "I was arrested that night because we were defending our right to life and to a future by using our right to peacefully protest. It’s amazing news that the Procurator Fiscal has decided to not take this any further.
"It happened in a landscape where climate change is more and more on the agenda, and it’s incredible to see public opinion and awareness changing. What this means for all of us is that the resistance continues.
"The companies that sent people to sit at expensive dinner tables that night are responsible for the crisis that we are facing. They bear a direct threat to this planet and the idea of celebrating and rewarding them is, in the very least, disrespectful to all of us, to all the life on this Earth. I am terrified of the future which they are selfishly moulding."
Justin Kenrick, a 59-year-old anthropologistadded: "At the National Museum, we were arrested for delaying the oil club dinner. The delay gave many members of the public the chance to ask oil industry executives how they could perpetuate an industry that is destroying their children's future.
"The Procurator Fiscal has said that our cases are to be marked as no further proceedings. Clearly we have no case to answer, but the oil industry certainly does.
"We aim to make sure that the industry is transformed from offshore oil and gas extraction to offshore wind so that we can reach zero carbon by 2025"
READ MORE: Extinction Rebellion protests: The activists who plan further disruption
Rohan Stevenson, a 22-year-old student, said he was arrested for "supposedly causing fear and alarm".
"I remain afraid of and alarmed at the crisis the Scottish Oil Club is leading us towards," he said.
The group is demanding immediate action over environmental destruction, after grim predictions that humans face an existential threat if climate change and the loss of biodiversity continues.
The Scottish group, created six months ago, describe themselves as a "non-violent direct-action movement formed to take urgent action in the face of climate emergency and ecological catastrophe, as part of the global justice movement".
Extinction Rebellion video of Scottish Oil Club Dinner protest
They demand that the Scottish Government enact "legally binding policy measures" to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025.
It also wants a Scottish Citizens Assembly to oversee the changes as part of "creating a democracy fit for purpose and a society that cares for all".
The Crown Office was approached for comment.
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