Environmental campaigners have staged a “die-in” protest under the skeleton of a dinosaur in a Glasgow museum. Extinction Rebellion Scotland said about 300 people took part in the protest at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. They lay on the ground in the main hall, next to the skeleton copy of a diplodocus named Dippy.
Protestors said people of all ages lay under the extinct animal to raise awareness of climate change. Many held signs asking, “Are we next?”.
Some children held hand-drawn pictures of their favourite at-risk animals. It is the latest in a series of protests led by the environmental movement across the UK.
The event was organised by Wee Rebellion, a climate change protest group for young people in Glasgow associated with Extinction Rebellion.
The group said people lay on the floor at the pre-arranged signal of a violin playing. They remained on the ground for 20 minutes “as if they were dead in order to highlight the danger of extinction”.
When they stood up, they received a spontaneous round of applause from on-lookers. Earlier this month Extinction Rebellion protestors caused long tailbacks in Edinburgh when they blocked North Bridge for several hours.
Police said at the time that 29 people were arrested for breach of the peace. It came on the same day protestors were arrested in London at the beginning of a long-running campaign in the capital.
Extinction Rebellion says it wants to highlight the “severity and urgency of the climate and ecological emergency”.