THE first All Under One Banner march and rally for independence will start at 1.30pm in Glasgow today, kicking off a “national tour” of marches.

All Under One Banner (AUOB) is hopeful that as many as 100,000 people will participate in the march and rally today. Participants are asked to gather at Kelvingrove Park no later than 1pm for the march through the city centre to Glasgow Green where the rally will be addressed by speakers and entertainment will be provided.

The organisers have praised Police Scotland for their work in ensuring that the march can go ahead as planned after Glasgow City Council decreed an earlier start.

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In association with AUOB, The National is delighted to announce that the first 10,000 people to arrive at the starting point will be offered a FREE copy of The National. As you can see, the edition has an appropriate cover and we are asking readers to display that cover during the march.

We also ask that do take your National home as a souvenir as this is to be a litter-free march and rally.

The march will be led by one single flag carrier and the Saor Alba Pipe Band, making only their second appearance as the pipes and drums band of the Yes movement. Please consult our website and the AUOB Facebook pages for more details about the march.

AUOB stated: “All Under One Banner was founded in 2014 with our first march taking place in 2015. In the rain and bad weather, we marched with numbers as low as 100. Now, in 2019, our marches have grown with numbers exceeding 100,000.

The National:

“This has all been achieved by a handful of people and principally our marchers who have dedicated their time and made many sacrifices over this period. We have successfully organised marches and rallies across Scotland to galvanise independence support.

“We felt it our duty to pick up the fight and get us back in the ring. When others had gone silent we shouted the loudest, now we are the biggest grassroots movement for independence in Scotland.

“As an organisation we have made mistakes along the way and learned lessons. The organisation is still run by the same team, but we welcome new and trusted volunteers coming on board to help us to move us forward.

“As many of your readers are aware AUOB is under constant attack by Unionists. They are now trying to discredit our movement – tactics being used include fake websites and fake Facebook pages popping up to give wrong dates and times.

“The AUOB organisational team is under constant individual attacks, with malicious lies and fake rumours by Unionists with our volunteers being targeted and harassed.

“They fear us – Westminster knows the greatest threat is a people’s uprising for independence. Make no mistake the people have started to rise up.”

Named organiser for this march, AUOB’s operations director Manny Singh, said: “I would personally like to thank Police Scotland for their commitment to ensuring public safety, a commitment we absolutely share.

“They have arranged a temporary traffic restriction order for the Charing Cross junction which will help greatly today.

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“We will have a team of volunteers doing a bucket collection who will be carrying AUOB buckets with logos, wearing vests and ID badges. Each bucket will have a unique tamper proof reference number lock – please give only to these collectors.”

And now some sad news: the day trip to the AUOB march in Campbeltown on board the paddle steamer Waverley on July 27 has had to be cancelled due to unexpected repairs needed for the ship’s boiler. It’s a real blow to the Waverley team.

The Waverley management has assured Mike Fenwick of Yes East Ayrshire who had chartered the ship that the Scottish Independence Foundation will receive a full refund of the deposit and everyone who had booked for the trip will receive their refund in the next seven days.

Fenwick said: “It is sad because in just two days we had more than 250 people signed up for the trip and I’m sure it would have been a full Waverley.

“It’s a dream that has had to die but our dream of Scottish independence will never die.”