The row between Glasgow City Council and the All Under One Banner group who are organising the march and rally for independence in Glasgow on Saturday, May 4, has intensified and there is now a serious doubt as to whether the march can go ahead as planned.

The National told yesterday how negotiations between AUOB and the council broke down as both sides realised that the event could be much larger than originally planned, with 100,000 participants possible.

READ MORE: Police say Glasgow All Under One Banner march will be too big

Since officials, including representatives of the council, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, were unable to agree a plan with AUOB – they wanted the march to start much earlier than AUOB’s planned start time of 1.30pm – the matter has been referred to a committee of councillors who will discuss the issue on Tuesday.

They will be told of the officials’ fears for public safety, with the police calling for the earlier start time to reduce the significant “detrimental effect” they say so many marchers would have on the city centre, while Scottish Fire and Rescue said that if no changes were made to the procession, “a major incident would have to be declared to manage a response to any incident in the city centre”.

Councillors on the SNP-controlled council have the power to amend the routes and timings of such events, but it is extremely unlikely that they would cancel it outright.

AUOB yesterday issued a statement condemning the council as biased.

A spokesperson stated: “As we have come to find the norm from the departments at Glasgow City Council, they are attempting to thwart a peaceful demonstration for Scottish independence at the eleventh hour by threatening to change the route and bring the 1.30pm start time forward into the morning – both of which will create doubt amongst supporters.

“A change in the start time is deliberately aimed at reducing the participation levels on the day from people across Scotland.

“AUOB will in no way yield to such political bias when other organisations parade freely at all times of day and across all parts of Glasgow with the threat of drunken violence following them at every turn, and so the peaceful independence movement shall march and rally in accordance with the plans we intimated to the council almost 12 months ago.”

AUOB cannot understand why the emergency services have such concerns for a Saturday afternoon when neither Celtic or Rangers are playing at home.

Named organiser Manny Singh told The National: “It is ludicrous for the council to say that Glasgow cannot handle a march of this size, especially one when there’s no football crowds around.

“We are people are taking part in a peaceful and good-humoured protest.

“They say they have concerns about how the emergency services would be able to attend a major incident in the city centre during the march, but we have well-trained stewards who know exactly what to do in the event of such an incident.”

Glasgow City Council rejected any claims of bias. A spokeswoman said: “It’s nonsense to suggest that our officers are anything other than professionals and we totally dispute this unfounded allegation.”

The council pointed out that the legislation which governs public processions in Scotland requires event organisers to notify the local authority of their plans and the council to consult with Police Scotland on those plans, and take the matter to a committee of councillors if there is no negotiated resolution.

A spokesman said: “In this case, a variety of concerns have been raised – including the time of the procession, whether organisers have adequately prepared for the number of people likely to take part, and a series of public safety issues with previous events held be the same group.

“The organiser has refused to negotiate any resolution to these issues and, as such, we have no alternative but to take the matter to committee.”