Halloween Protest Targets First Minister’s House; Perth Guisers Say They Also Knocked on Doors and Demanded Things, and Nobody Called It Politics
Environmental campaigners staged a fossil fuel protest in fancy dress at Bute House. Perth's ten-year-olds say they invented the format.
Bute House, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. It got visitors on Halloween. Photo: Enric, “Edinburgh - Bute House - 20140426201338”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Environmental campaigners staged a Halloween-themed protest outside Bute House in Edinburgh, the First Minister’s official residence, calling for an end to new oil and gas.
In Perth, the city’s guisers were unimpressed. “Going to a door in a costume and demanding something is just guising,” said a nine-year-old zombie from Craigie. “Except we tell a joke first. Did they tell a joke? No. So they get nothing.”
A Perth grandmother who answered her door to 47 guisers on Saturday night said protesters could learn a lot from children. “They were polite, they were quick, and they had a clear demand: sweets,” she said. “I’d vote for any of them.”
Political experts say Halloween is a good time for a protest because people are already expecting someone at the door. “In November, if someone knocks, people hide behind the sofa,” said one. “On Halloween, they come out with a bowl.”
Bute House had no comment. A Perth pumpkin left outside a house in Kinnoull Street said it was also concerned about climate change, because it is now quite soft.
The real story: Bute House Halloween protest (BBC News)
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Our guisers did eleven houses and got a pound coin, a satsuma and a talk about the bin collections. Standards are slipping.
— Shona T., Letham, 1 November 2026 -
Protests are fine but if you go to someone’s door on Halloween you should at least have a joke ready.
— Jim P., Muirton, 1 November 2026
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