All Under One Banner – Independence Rally and March – 5th May 2018
Nearly 4 years after the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, “All Under One Banner” organised an event on the 5th of May with the hopes of sending Westminster a message that we will not be silenced anymore and the support for Scottish Independence is as alive as it ever was. The organisers had hoped that there would be a 40000 turnout to beat the Rally of 2014. Early estimates predict that there were around 80000 people in attendance
People of all ages were welcome and it was sold as a family friendly event. This was very much in keeping with the whole Yes movement and earlier rallies. With this in mind, we made the journey from Greenock to Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park where the march was to begin at 11.30am sharp. We met up with many other pals from Moodiesburn and others from Inverclyde including our local MSP Stuart MacMillan and local Councillor and SNP depute contender, Christopher McEleny. On arrival, the atmosphere was just electric; families, dogs, wheelchair users and so on turned up donning saltires as well as Catalan, EU and CND flags and banners
There was no better feeling, than marching through the Yes city of Glasgow with such an amazing turnout and happy bystanders – albeit a very small contingent of Unionists who spent their minutes spouting hatred, giving the middle finger here and there (to small children) and my personal favourite, their nazi salutes. Their vitriol was drowned out by positivity and chants from the crowd. I am so proud of my fellow yessers that we did not stoop to their level and proved that we are the positive change that Scotland so desperately needs
The march continued on towards Glasgow Green where there were stalls and a stage for the speeches and the all important entertainment. I cannot stress enough how as we waited for the rest of my group to arrive, the crowds just kept coming and coming, filling up the whole of Glasgow Green. For miles and miles you could hear the sound of the pipes and people generally having a good time.
Two hours of walking certainly works up an appetite and it was at this point that we made our way for the West Brewery (the old Templeton Carpet Factory). The place was absolutely bouncing with attendees and we happily took a spot in the beer garden, sharing tables with other Yes folk. It was here that I discovered that people from all over the country had turned up to show their support. We sat with 2 lovely ladies who had made the journey from Ballachulish. Then there was a rather large group from Fife and Sutherland. My children even spotted their teachers there, all Gaels from the Uists, Barra and Lewis bigging it up for the Gaelic contingent of the cause. It would literally bring a tear to a glass eye to have sat there once more with such a feeling of hope after the despair and grief we had unanimously felt back on the 19th of September 2014.
The one thing on everyone’s lips however was “I wonder what the BBC will report?” and “Are they going to make it another Fake News Story”? These fears had been somewhat justified with the BBC’s initial reluctance to report the event and when they did, they stated that there were only around 35000 people there. They got this figure from Police Scotland who initially reported close to 90000 in attendance. Give it to the good old BBC to take the lower estimate but then again we all know that they are a State Propaganda machine who are used to push the Westmonster agenda at every turn whilst being supported disproportionally by Scottish Licence Fee payers.
Thanks to Social Media and great coverage by the National and Independence Live, we have a better view of what happened and we can only ask that those who were there, to shout it out from the rooftops and share the news amongst all their friends. We shall not be silenced again and the fight for Indy 2 has well and truly begun.
Catriona Stevenson Twitter @Catstevenson3
Scottish History Police
Lovely piece! I wasn’t able to make it today but had been to previous Marches, reading blogs like this make me feel I was there! Thanks! 🙂
Great report. I’m sitting here fuming after seeing journalist Paul Hutcheon on’ Politics Scotland’ tell viewers that our march ”was somewhat well attended!” This was followed by pathetic comment from Katie Grant who called it an SNP march. To be fair Gordon Brewer corrected her.
We need more events as ‘All Under One Banner’ so that the public know it’s not just the SNP who crave independence. Janice Donaldson.