Organiser says march was peaceful and hits out at ‘unionist’ city council
An organiser of a pro-independence march in Glasgow has defended his decision to refuse an order from the police and council for it to be started earlier.
Manny Singh was reported to the procurator fiscal following the All Under One Banner (AUOB) march on Saturday, which police estimate was attended by around 35,000 people.
It had been advertised to start at 1:30pm. However, Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland had ordered the start time to be amended to 11am due to concerns about public safety and disruption to the community.
Organisers failed to comply with the order and Mr Singh was subsequently reported in connection with section 65 of the Civic Government Act 1982. He faces a potential fine or up to three months in prison.
In a statement, Mr Singh claimed the “unionist” Glasgow City council, which is led by the SNP, was pushing for his prosecution over the failure to change the starting time of the event.
He said: “There are demonstrations happening all over Britain just now that don’t have 1 per cent of the planning and organisation that we put into the Glasgow march, which was entirely peaceful.”