DONALD Trump was met by a wall of protesters at the Scottish Parliament today.
The American tycoon had been giving evidence at the green energy targets inquiry.
Trump is battling to stop a windfarm development off the shore of his golf resort at the Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire.
A broad alliance of pro-wind and anti-Trump activists called ‘Wind Is Good Scotland’ (or WIGS for short) took action around Donald Trump’s visit to the Scottish Parliament this morning stating that Scotland wants ‘wind power not windbags’.
At the action, Stan Blackley, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, was able to confront Donald Trump. Brandishing a gold balloon bearing Donald Trump’s likeness, he told Donald Trump to his face that he was “a windbag, and Scotland wants windpower, not windbags like you.”
The alliance got their message across as Donald Trump addressed anti-wind demonstrators (CATS) outside the Scottish Parliament after giving evidence to the committee inquiry into the Scottish Government’s renewables targets.
The WIGS activists used drums, whistles, horns and ‘Trump’-ets to make their presence known and wore t-shirts and carried placards featuring a spoof image of Donald Trump with his hair being blown up by a wind turbine. They also used gold balloons featuring Donald Trump’s likeness as ‘wind bags’ to make ‘irritating farty noises’.
Stan Blackley, who also facilitated the WIGS alliance, said:”WIGS is a broad alliance of concerned individuals who are here to let Donald Trump know that Scotland wants more wind power, not windbags like him. A rich, overseas reality TV star should not be allowed to dictate the future of Scotland’s energy policy and economic recovery, both of which will rely heavily on the transition to a renewable energy-powered future for Scotland in the coming years.”
There have been a number of polls released in the last few days reflecting public opinion in Scotland around renewable energy and its potential impacts. These have been commissioned by organisations as diverse as Scottish Renewables, Visit Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland.
Mr Blackley continued:”These polls show that the majority of Scots are supportive of the continuing development of wind power, that they want to see an increase in the amount of their household electricity produced from domestic renewables, and they agree that sensitively-sited and appropriately-scaled onshore and offshore wind farms are necessary for the future of Scotland’s energy generation. Donald Trump and his CATS lapdogs are clearly and demonstrably out of step with Scottish public opinion.”
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