COP 26: A Ringside View of 'Climate Justice' March in Glasgow

The march was like a carnival and I realised that passion and causes can make you feel happy, light and connected.

Photos from the 'climate justice' march in Glasgow, on the sidelines of COP26.

(Photo: Bahar Dutt)

The rain was beating down on us as I walked to Kelvingrove park in Glasgow city with a heavy rucksack stuffed with my camera, microphone and other paraphernalia of a mobile journalist.

Mums and dads with young kids, dog parents, old, young... everyone was there.

There were cops in neon yellow jackets everywhere, the difference being they were there to facilitate the March rather than stop it – to make sure the protestors were able to complete their walk to city centre in a peaceful manner.

They moved around, keeping an eye out as a helicopter hovered above.

There were cops in their neon yellow jackets everywhere.

Mums and dads with young kids, dog parents, old, young... everyone was there. Climate change now embraces all causes – a feminist group, an anti-racist group, an anti-capitalism group and yes, members from the Green Party.

Climate change now embraces all causes.

At some point, the protestors broke into a dance and soon the people who came dressed as dinosaurs, trees and endangered birds started swaying from side to side.

It seemed more like a carnival and I realised that passion and causes can make you feel happy and light and connected – it doesn’t have to be all screams and protests, and feeling like it’s the end of the world!

People who came dressed as dinosaurs, trees and endangered birds broke into a dance.

I met an eight-year-old boy, Orlando, who was dressed as a dinosaur. A 16-year-old who came dressed as a tree and said that his group represented a ‘meadow’. An eighty-year-old was also there on a wheelchair, beating the drums.

An eighty-year-old was also there on a wheelchair, beating the drums.

After five hours of filming in the rain, I could barely feel my hands. I stepped into the warmth of a local cafe to file my story.

In the end, the march wasn’t just a party as people did reportedly end up getting arrested.

Several protestors did reportedly end up getting arrested.

But in that windy, cold day in Glasgow, I wished that the world leaders at COP26 would step out of the venue and meet the protestors half way. Now that would have been a story!

It seemed more like a carnival and I realised that passion and causes can make you feel happy and light and connected.

(Bahar Dutt is an award-winning environment journalist, currently covering COP26 in Glasgow.)