Perthshire Advertiser

Hundreds turn out for Brexit march

Cross-party opposition to leaving EU in Perth

- Rachel Clark

Hundreds turned out to demonstrat­e against Brexit in Perth over the weekend.

Organised by campaign group Perth4Euro­pe, around 200 people marched in the Fair City on Sunday, June 24 against the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

The march, which left from the South Inch and travelled through the city centre to Perth Concert Hall, was designed to coincide with a larger demonstrat­ion staged over the weekend in London, which was attended by around 100,000 people.

Susannah Rae, convener of Perth4Euro­pe, said it has been a successful day: “It was really good and I think people enjoyed it. Quite a lot of people thanked us for putting something on because they couldn’t go down to London, but they still wanted to protest somewhere.

“We had around 200 people and last time we only had 50, so lots more this time round and people had a variety of reasons for turning out. A range of ages came out from elderly people in their 80s to those in buggies, and we had teenagers and those in their 20s and 30s as well. It was very nice to see.

“People are beginning to think we can do something about Brexit.

“We had three people from Perth4Euro­pe down at the London march, and a few people from Edinburgh, Fife, Inverness and the west coast came to Perth to take part.”

Once the march had reached Perth Concert Hall, a cross-section of politician­s opposing Brexit spoke to the crowds.

Amongst the speakers was Pete Wishart, SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire, retired Conservati­ve MEP James Proven, Mark Ruskell MSP from the Green Party, Catherine Stihler Labour MEP, and Cllr Pete Barrett from the Liberal Democrats.

Susannah continued: “I wanted to thank everyone for speaking at the event.

“It was a cross-party event and they all spoke well and had different perspectiv­es but were united in opposition to Brexit.

“Perth voted remain and Scotland as a whole was 62 per cent remain so Perth was in line with the rest of Scotland in the referendum vote.

“Although our march in Perth won’t have been noticed down in London, it is important to show local politician­s there is still an opposition to Brexit and to show people in Perth they can get involved and people will not just accept what is happening.

“It got the message across quite clearly.”

Around 200 people turned out to march in Perth

A range of people turned out for the march

 ??  ?? Big crowd
Big crowd
 ??  ?? All ages
All ages

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