Thousands of supporters of Scottish independence gathered today in Glasgow's iconic George Square for a mass rally, as the momentum for Scottish independence continues to grow after last month's referendum defeat.
In the largest pro-yes gathering since the day of the referendum, former Socialist Party MSP, Tommy Sheridan, hosted an eventful five hour event with speakers from different factions in the independence camp as well as live bands and singers to keep the crowd entertained. The event (that was mostly advertised on social media) was deemed a success by those involved as well as the attendees.
Banners and flags were on display, ranging from the serious to the comedic. One sign on display read 'Hope Over Fear', the name of the event and a popular phrase during the referendum campaign. A sea of saltires which would bring tears to the eyes of the biggest patriot were a common sight during the event.
The event had more than just the audience of those in George Square, as a live inline was being broadcasted around the world, as people from Vietnam, USA and Australia were vocal viewers on the chat box. At any given time during the sporadic live inline, an audience of up to 1000 viewers tuned in as actor Paul Brannigan gave his speech to the thousands watching.
As well as Paul Brannigan, there was another famous face on show- actor Martin Compston gave his own passionate speech in which he said, “this movement is going nowhere.". Compston later posted on Twitter saying it was an 'absolute privilege to speak in front that crowd'. Compston had appeared at many other pro-independence rallies as well as being on social media.
A young campaigner from Edinburgh took to the stage urging his fellow comrades to vote the SNP, even if they backed a different party- as well as a former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who was one of the more punchy talkers and got an overwhelming applause of support from the crowd.
The Scottish Green Party posted today that their membership had passed 7,000 members. The Scottish Greens just had their party conference in which co-convenor, Patrick Harvie welcomed John Finnie, an indpendent MSP, to the party. Finnie, left the SNP as they differed in their opinion on NATO. In his speech to his new party, Finnie spoke of voting turn out in Inverness which had been at 30% pre-referendum, but due to the help of grassroots campaigns such as the Radical Independence Campaign, the voting turn out in Inverness was at 80%. Of the high turn out, Finnie said that it was “something we must hold onto”.
