Hundreds of anti-windfarm protesters will march on the SNP conference today to show opposition against Alex Salmond’s renewable energy policy.
Billed as the launch of a more militant strand of the anti-windfarm movement, it has been timed to coincide with the first minister’s keynote speech.
The protest will be led by the Gask and Strathearn Protection Society (Gasps) which is fighting a proposal by English firm Ecotricity for four 410ft turbines a few miles from Perth.
The group has council permission to fly a red blimp at the same height as the turbines they are fighting at the conference venue. Billed as a family event, children are being encouraged to join in face paint, masks or fancy dress depicting animals threatened by wind turbines.
The organisers said Energy Minister Fergus Ewing had “become increasingly unavailable” to meet them and Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead called off a farm visit this week for fear of meeting windfarm demonstrators.
SNP sources said Mr Lochhead called off his visit due to lack of time. It emerged yesterday that Mr Ewing has offered to meet a group of demonstrators privately.