Police Scotland issued an apology to scores of women who were forced to walk through a ‘pitch dark’ park last night after the COP26 road closures.
Residents of Glasgow reported that officers had instructed them to use alternate routes, including Kelvingrove Park or the sidestreets. This was after cordons were placed on main roads to allow COP delegates safe driving.
The road closures were caused by hundreds of world leaders attending the largest gathering of Government representatives ever since the birth of United Nations at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove museum on Monday night.
One woman posted to Twitter: “Hey @GlasgowCC. While we understand that Kelvin Way is being closed down for COP16, being forced to walk through Kelvingrove in darkness is unsafe.
Women in Glasgow told how officers told them to take alternative routes, including Kelvingrove, last night. Pictured: Kelvingrove park police on horseback
Cordons were installed on the main roads in preparation for Monday’s COP26 reception
“So many generator lamps are being used by the police, can’t you not light at least the main path for them?”
Another person said that Finnieston residents who live on the north side are being told to walk through Kelvingrove to reach their flats. It’s dark.’
One person wrote, “I know that COP26 poses a huge logistical challenge but I have heard firsthand that women on foot are being diverted to walk through Kelvingrove Park in the pitch black because Argyle St/Dumbarton Rd. It is not safe.
Another added: “Walking through Kelvingrove Park at night on my own last night.”
‘All the police they’d got in England having no clue about this area so responding with ‘I don’t know sorry just go around and find out’ to single women asking for directions.
Gary Ritchie, Assistant Chief Constable, stated that residents were diverted on the way home, including through Kelvingrove Park. This was due to real-time operational changes on Monday night.
“While we accept that late changes and some disruption are inevitable when policing an event of the scale and magnitude of COP26, our understanding and apologies for the concern these changes caused as well as for the inconvenience caused to those who were diverted.
“We acknowledge and recognize the comment made by some women who walked alone through the park last evening. We want everyone safe, and we know that it is our responsibility to recognize when we can offer more support and visibility to help people in our communities.
“The diversion is no more in place and there are no plans for it to be reintroduced. We will establish additional patrols in the region to provide reassurance if further diversions are required for operational purposes.
As residents were being diverted through the park last evening, women took to social networking to share their experiences
“We will collaborate with Glasgow City Council to examine whether lighting in Kelvingrove Park might be improved.”
Last night, world leaders, including Joe Biden and Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel, and Justin Trudeau, engaged briefly in dinner-time diplomacy as hundreds gathered at Kelvingrove Museum for a lavish reception.
The Prime Minister hosted the evening at the newly renovated gallery and said that the summit was an ‘extraordinary historic event’ and that there was a ‘death threat to our planet’.
He also called Prince Charles “the man to defuse bomb at the moment of world danger” and described him as a “prophet without honor”.
Johnson’s remarks came after President Biden apologized for Donald Trump’s departure from the Paris Climate Accord. He pledged that the U.S. would increase its financial stake fighting climate change. He said that the biggest producers of it should be its largest investors in fixing it.