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Climate campaigners have scaled a Scottish tourist attraction as part of days-long action against the fossil fuel industry.

Two people from This Is Rigged scaled The Kelpies, two giant sculptures between Falkirk and Grangemouth about 23 miles northeast of Glasgow, at 5am today.

The 100ft-high steel artwork is just by the Grangemouth Refinery, one of the only crude oil refineries in Scotland and one of six across the UK. 

The group are group calling on the Scottish government to stop oil and gas extraction, saying they will not be ‘lured underwater’ by fossil fuel companies.

In Scottish folklore, kelpies are shape-shifting horse-like spirits found in lochs that tempt children before drowning and devouring them in the murky depths.

‘As the Scottish government continues to allow oil and gas licences to go ahead in Scotland, they’re leading us to the same fate,’ one This Is Rigged protester said.

‘The land on which The Kelpies were built will be submerged underwater by 2050. Isn’t this a bit ironic?’

The demonstrators sat atop one of the heads of the Kelpies and unfurled a banner reading: ‘This Is Rigged.’

Another protester said: ‘The Kelpies is a monument to the horses and the people who’ve worked to develop our industry and agriculture to where it is today, yet the Scottish government is now leaving our oil workers without support for a fair transition to renewables.

‘This means unemployment, insecurity and exploitation for workers as well as fossil-fuelled climate collapse.

‘Horses powered our past and renewables power our future. Continuing fossil fuel extraction will power nothing but our death.’

Helix Park, where the sculptures are located, was temporarily closed while police dealt with the demonstration.

Police Scotland later confirmed both of the protestors had been arrested upon their descent.

In a statement, the force said: ‘Around 6am on Sunday 23 July 2023, officers received a report of two protesters climbing The Kelpies structure in the Helix Park, Falkirk.

‘Officers attended and a 23-year-old man and 22-year-old woman were safely removed.

‘They have both been arrested in connection with the incident and inquiries remain ongoing.’

The Kelpies, designed by Andy Scott and constructed in 2013, are visited by millions each year.

This Is Rigged protesters staged blockades at oil terminals in Grangemouth and Clydebank earlier this week in demonstrations that led to 30 arrests.

It comes as heatwaves continue to smother some parts of Europe, North America and Asia, demolishing temperature records and sending mercury to the high 40s.

The off-the-charts heat in July follows the off-the-charts heat in June.

June saw the warmest global average temperature at just over 0.5°C above the 1991-2020 average, according to Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

While off the coasts of Antarctica, sea ice levels that month melted to record lows, giving the planet even less defences against the warmth.

Global warming is making dangerously hot weather more intense and more common, experts say, who added that it’ll only get hotter from here on out.

The thermostat for Earth is about to get cranked even higher as the planet enters an exceptionally warm period over the next five years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned in May.

Two things are behind the surge, the UN weather agency said: the return of the cyclical weather pattern El Niño and climate change caused by humans burning oil, gas and coal.

‘This will have far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment,’ said Petteri Taalas, the secretary general of the WMO at the time.

‘We need to be prepared.’

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