A TOP cop has said police are preparing for Pope Francis to visit Glasgow for a climate change conference this year.

Assistant chief constable Bernard Higgins says the Catholic Church leader's attendance at the Cop26 summit will escalate policing of the event beyond the 2012 Olympics in London. 

If the Pontiff attends, he will be the first Pope since Benedict XVI in 2010 to visit Glasgow. This was three decades after Pope John Paul II famously addressed an estimated 300,000 worshippers in Bellahouston Park in 1982. 

Other world leaders such President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson are also expected to be in the city in November. 

READ MORE: COP26: Pope Francis 'considering' visit to Glasgow for climate conference

Discussing the event during Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee, ACC Higgins also promised peaceful protest would be facilitated by police but warned “riotous” behaviour will not be tolerated.

He said: “We have a set of planning assumptions which we have been working to, based on a number of world leaders coming at a particular time, who may include the president of the US, and who may include the Holy Father, Pope Francis, which would escalate the event into something not seen in the UK in many, many years.”

As we previously reported, the Bishops' Conference of Scotland is understood to have been told to prepare for the possibility of a papal visit . 

ACC Higgins added: “It is literally going to be the biggest policing event possibly since the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

“Now the reality is I cannot deliver the policing operation that is required for it to be a safe and secure event without the assistance of UK policing.

Glasgow Times: Joe Biden is also expected in Glasgow Joe Biden is also expected in Glasgow

“So there will pretty much be a 60/40 split – Police Scotland officers and officers from the wider UK forces.”

Cop26, originally due to take place last year, has been described as the most significant international meeting on climate change since the Paris Agreement in 2015.

ACC Higgins said he expects four broad types of protesters around the summit.

The first will be people who want their voices heard on climate change, the second are people who wish to protest against a specific country or world leader, the third will be those wanting to engage in direct action, and the fourth are likely to be anarchist, far-right or far-left groups.

READ MORE: Leo Cushley and John Keenan in the running to replace late Philip Tartaglia as Archbishop of Glasgow

He said: “If you consider some of the peaceful protests you’ve seen recently and contrast that with, for example, the protest on Capitol Hill in Washington.

“The policing plan has got to be flexible enough to facilitate lawful, peaceful protest but also robust enough to repel any determined violent or riotous behaviour.”

He added that the UN will allow some protest groups inside the “blue zone” of the summit on certain days.