Politicians have joined campaigners dressed as trees to protest against public subsidies for wood-burning power plants.

Edinburgh Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm and Green MSP Alison Johnstone addressed a demonstration by organisations Biofuelwatch, No Leith Biomass Campaign, Friends of the Earth Scotland and Grangemouth Community Council against Scottish Government subsidies for biomass power plants.

Campaigners say companies like Forth Energy are set to receive around £170m of public money every year for proposed biomass power stations in Dundee, Rosyth and Grangemouth.

At the protest outside Holyrood on Thursday, participants carried banners saying "stop biomassive pollution".

Forth Energy withdrew plans for a large biomass station in Leith in February.

Ayrshire Power, which proposes to build a coal and biomass power station at Hunterston in Ayrshire, stands to gain over £91m a year from "co-firing" biomass if their project is approved, according to campaigners.

Biofuelwatch campaigner Emilia Hanna said: "If all planned biomass power stations in Scotland receive planning permission, they will collectively burn more than five times the amount of wood that is available in Scotland to the industry.

"This trend is being mirrored across the globe, leading to the destruction of the world's forests which are vital carbon sinks in the fight against climate change.

"The biomass industry is being artificially inflated by heavy subsidies. Under new plans, industries could gain around £70 for each megawatt-hour of electricity they supply through burning wood. Every penny towards big biomass is a push towards environmental destruction.

"We gather outside Parliament to call on MSPs and the Government to do the right thing for the future of our planet by removing subsidies from biomass."

Davina Shiell, head of campaigns and communications at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Industrial-scale electricity generation from biomass has been proven to cause deforestation, increase carbon emissions, cause harmful air pollution locally and be as inefficient as burning coal.

"Scotland has plenty of potential for genuine renewable energy technologies including wind, tidal and solar."