Tourist joins indy march after Yes Stone find Saltire-adorned art project unites student with movement after chance encounter at Borders

LAST week, thousands of pro-independence supporters took to the streets of Glasgow and proved that the movement is far from over.

We were reporting live from the scene, where we heard from grassroots activists from across the movement, and speeches from the likes of First Minister Humza Yousaf and Greens MSP Ross Greer.

Yet there was one story that stuck with us in particular.

Meet Emma Louis, a 25-year-old from the north-east of France. She lives about an hour away from Metz, near the border of Belgium and Luxembourg, and she ended up at the Believe in Scotland rally because of a stone.

A Yes stone, to be more clear. The Yes Stones project is made up of almost 10,000 members across Scotland, who spread awareness about Scottish independence in a non-party-political way by painting and decorating stones, and placing

Rwanda Bill was passed, after prolonged legal challenges. I, and all Scottish Government ministers, have opposed the bill at every stage and we are appalled that the UK Government has forced it through. People seeking asylum are among the most vulnerable in the world and the most in need of our compassion and support, and this will have very severe consequences for them.

It may be hard to imagine now, but the UK was a founding signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. This sets out the rights and standards of treatment that those facing them up and down the country for people to find.

Louis drove from France to Scotland in a campervan. So far, she’s been to Dumfries and Galloway, Fort William (where she climbed Ben Nevis), along the NC500 to Inverness, then Stirling, and eventually to Glasgow.

“My trip has been amazing, people are just so nice, I feel so safe here it’s amazing,” Louis told us.

Louis found a Yes stone as she crossed the Border from England into Scotland at Carters Bar, as she was taking pictures of the

Scottish flag. After finding the stone, Louis joined the Yes Stones Facebook group and reached out to members.

“I put myself there saying that I found the stone, and people were really happy about it,” she said.

“So when I heard about the march and I saw that I was actually here [in Glasgow] today, I just figured that I would come. People were really happy to meet me.”

Thanks to the kindness of the Yes Stones community, Louis was able to meet the person who painted the stone that she picked up.

Derek Lammie, a piper in Saor Alba Pipes and Drums, also just so happened to be in Glasgow on Saturday, as he formed part of the band which led the march into George Square.

The two met and took a photograph, pictured above, left, to commemorate the special occasion.

One day, Louis would like to live in Scotland.

“Initially, I wanted to study here. In France I was studying in the food industry, my school had a partnership with a university in Scotland,” she said.

“The year that I was able to go there with Erasmus, we lost that because of Brexit, so I couldn’t come.

“I figured that it’s OK, I will come and work here one day, but as things are right now with Brexit, I just can’t.”

If Louis came to study in Scotland,