THE All Under One Banner march and rally for independence is to go ahead originally as planned in Edinburgh tomorrow, the organisers have told The National.
Following a meeting with the police, Edinburgh Council and Historic Environment Scotland (HES), the latter having banned the rally element of the event from Holyrood Park, AUOB’s named organiser Gary Kelly and head of stewarding Manny Singh told The National that the rally would go ahead in the Park at the end of the march down the Royal Mile at 1pm.
“HES have not budged on their ban on the rally,” said Kelly, “but we are going ahead as we do not think they can stop us.
“Our main concern is safety and with up to 50,000 people attending, maybe more, we need a place for them to rally and disperse.”
AUOB’s head of stewarding Manny Singh said there had been one concession by the authorities as the Scottish Parliament is allowing toilets to be sited on its ground adjacent to Holyrood Park.
Singh added: “HES have already said we can march into the Park, and we will make sure that is done safely, so hopefully the police can decide to use their powers to ensure public safety.”
Asked if they feared legal action by HES, AUOB said they had “a good lawyer”.
On its Facebook page, the group said: "We are not long out of the meeting with the authorities Re #AUOBEdinburgh, where we sat round a table with Edinburgh council, Police Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland.
"We are proud to announce that Police Scotland have made an executive decision in the interests of health & safety and public order to facilitate our stance that we are Rallying at Holyrood park and are implementing emergency powers to make this happen.
"HES maintained their political stance that we were still refused permission but after a long meeting where we held to our principles we are delighted to announce Holyrood park is ours Tomorrow."
HES is expected to give its reaction later.
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