GLASGOW (Dispatches) -- An estimated 20,000 people have taken to the streets of Glasgow to demonstrate for Scotland's independence from Britain as British PM Boris Johnson fought off a call from the Brexit party to drop the deal he negotiated with the European Union last month.
Nicola Sturgeon, the head of Scotland's devolved government and of the Scottish National Party, present at the rally, took part in an independence event for the first time in five years.
The upcoming general election on December 12 is "the most important election for Scotland in our lifetimes", Sturgeon told the crowd.
"The future of our country is on the line, and there is no doubt whatsoever that Scotland stands at a crossroads moment," she said.
A win for Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson meant a future where Scotland got "ripped out of our European family of nations against our will", Sturgeon said.
Neither would a Labour government be a better option for Scotland. The much better alternative would be to become an independent country, Sturgeon said.
"An independent Scotland is closer than it has ever been," Sturgeon wrote in a statement released hours before the start of Saturday's rally. "It really is within touching distance."
She called on voters to cast their ballots for the SNP and thereby strengthen Scotland's position.
On Friday, Sturgeon said she would request a new referendum on independence from London before the end of December.
Last week, the British parliament passed legislation calling for an early general election on December 12. Johnson demanded the vote to break a political stalemate over the Brexit deal he hammered out with Brussels.
In Scotland's first independence referendum in 2014, 55 percent voted against a split from Britain.
During the Brexit referendum of 2016, a clear majority (62 percent) of Scottish voters were in favor of remaining in the European Union - a fact that led many to call for a new referendum on independence.
Johnson insisted he will never grant a second Scottish independence referendum, saying the 2014 ballot was a "once in a generation” decision.
Pressed on whether he would authorize a second referendum, he replied: "No, I don't want to have one. I don't see any reason to go back on that assurance.”
The defiant retort, in an interview on Sky News' Ridge on Sunday, comes as the SNP ramps up its demands for another vote north of the border.