Green lobby Occupy city square to join protests

Environmental campaigners from around the world gathered in St Andrew Square to express solidarity with the Occupy Edinburgh camp.

The campaigners were in Edinburgh to take part in a Friends of the Earth International board meeting and chose to show their support for the camp and its aims yesterday.

Carrying placards of support, activists from Nigeria, El Salvador, Sri Lanka and South Africa criticised the global economic system they say prioritises profit at the expense of people and the planet.

Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, said: “We stand in solidarity with this peaceful occupation. In our own countries, we see the devastating environmental and human rights impacts of corporate greed.

“People are finally taking to the streets here in Scotland to say ‘enough is enough’, and we welcome and support their campaigning.”

A protester from the camp, Eric Nelson, said: “Friends of the Earth stand against actions that are virtually all carried out in the interests of the ‘one per cent’, the financial elites. We want a true democracy.”