diff --git a/src/lxc/lxc-ls b/src/lxc/lxc-ls
index 8a1d1ed88..2ad1f7f0c 100644
--- a/src/lxc/lxc-ls
+++ b/src/lxc/lxc-ls
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", "The python-lxc API isn't yet stable")
 import argparse
 import gettext
 import lxc
+import os
 import re
 import sys
 
@@ -115,6 +116,12 @@ parser.add_argument("filter", metavar='FILTER', type=str, nargs="?",
 
 args = parser.parse_args()
 
+# Basic checks
+## The user needs to be uid 0
+if not os.geteuid() == 0:
+    parser.error(_("You must be root to run this script. Try running: sudo %s"
+                   % (sys.argv[0])))
+
 # --active is the same as --running --frozen
 if args.active:
     if not args.state: