Thousands in Glasgow March for Independence
GLASGOW (Anadolu/Press TV) – Thousands of pro-independence Scots have marched in Glasgow, demanding a second referendum on separation from the UK.
Organized by the All Under Same Banner group, which promotes a second vote on independence dubbed indyref2, the march started at the Kelvingrove Park.
Demonstrators shouted their demand of independence through Glasgow’s streets, with the procession ending in central George Square.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose Scottish National Party (SNP) came out strong from the May 5 local elections, promised a second vote by the end of 2023.
The SNP remained the biggest party in Scotland, but Scottish Conservatives lost their second place to Labour after losing major ground in the elections.
It won a total of 454 council seats, consolidating their position, while the Scottish Conservatives lost 62 for a result of 215.
The first referendum that asked Scottish voters whether they would want to break from the UK was held in 2014, a mere two years before the historic EU referendum.
The government under then-Prime Minister David Cameron pledged better understanding for Scots from Westminster and “extensive new powers” for the Scottish Parliament.
Leading the independence campaign at the time, the SNP had full confidence that the country would survive and be better off outside the UK, strengthened by the nation’s North Sea oil fields, textiles, jet engines, and various banking and financial services.
Scots still rejected separation, as just over 2 million votes (55.3%) were cast to remain part of the kingdom, while 1.62 million (44.7%) people voted for independence.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Scottish Tories have repeatedly rejected the idea of indyref2.
Sinn Fein Hopes for
Reunification of Ireland
Meanwhile, a member of the Irish republican party Sinn Fein says Northern Ireland is on an irreversible journey toward reunification with the Republic of Ireland and independence from Britain.
“I think there is an irreversible journey towards a united Ireland and the end of the partition,” Pat Sheehan told Press TV in an exclusive interview, noting that Sinn Fein is at the very front of that movement.
Sheehan, who won a seat for his party in the western Belfast region, said the election results showed that Sinn Fein is the single biggest party in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein secured 27 seats in the 90-seat legislature in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, ending a chain of victories for pro-UK unionist parties, which have been the largest in government since Northern Ireland was formed in 1921.
“Opinion polls over the last couple of years have shown that Sinn Fein is the biggest party in the south [as well] and that there is a desire in the south in particular for the reunification of the country,” he said.
Sheehan said they do not want a referendum similar to the Brexit, where people did not know what they were voting for.
He predicted that a referendum on the reunification of Ireland will take place this decade, saying that the members of his political party want all the facts on the table before a referendum takes place.