Any Glaswegian trying to enjoy a peaceful walk along the banks of the Clyde last night would have instead witnessed a fierce propaganda battle, as climate protesters locked horns with the official projectionists of a COP26 venue.
Protesters splashing the SEC Armadillo with an anti-fracking message could not have predicted how the projectionists for the optically-besieged building would have reacted – by projecting their own message telling them to “go away”.
The Armadillo, which is playing host to negotiations during the conference, is usually decked in projections of the spinning-globe COP logo.
But protesters wanted to make a point in reaction to EU plans for new fossil fuel projects, aided by a projector twice as powerful as those used in cinemas.
A group of 10 activists from groups including Shale Must Fall, Gastivists, and Climate Camp Scotland, projected messages including: “Clean gas is a dirty lie”, “cut methane now”, and “ban fracking now”.
When the crew employed to paint the amphitheatre with the official projections noticed what was happening, they tried to counter and drown out the messages.