This week is all about the Glasgow march.
Over five hundred of us gathered at Nelson’s Monument in Glasgow Green. The promised live music didn’t materialise, instead we got blasted by a portable hand-held player that would have done justice to a live Rolling Stones concert. There were about twenty police persons mingling and chatting with the crowd, presumably attempting to ingratiate their renowned Scottish soft-touch policing. They avoided me.
The participants were a mixed bunch, mostly middle-class with and without children, several dogs and a handful of ‘professional’ marchers. If nothing else, we were about to embark on a nice walk. The sun even began to shine. As we exited the park a policeman with a megaphone harangued us with the admonition that we were, ‘Engaging in an unlawful procession which is inconveniencing and endangering the town’s citizens’. No authorisation had been sought because none would have been given considering that there was a covid restriction of 500 on outdoor events.
Despite the prohibition the police did a marvellous job of safely chaperoning us on a loop through the town. They herded us towards the pedestrianised areas and, en-route, held back the traffic where necessary. It was actually a joy to walk through town without having to take into account the dangers of vehicular traffic. It somehow felt good to have the cars wait on us.
As we entered pedestrianised Argyle Street the muted chanting became more vigorous as by then we had more of an audience. There was nobody conducting the ‘choir’ and various slogans were tried. Most failed to take off but the one that did stick was, ‘No vaccine passports!… No vaccine passports!’, accompanied in rhythm by drums, whistles and flutes.
There was never any silence because some of the ‘professionals’ had boom boxes strapped to their backs playing pop songs. Were they just here to enjoy a day out to the sound of their favourite tunes? Unfortunately for me I always seemed to get caught up behind one of them. No sooner had I had hurried in front when another seemed to show up.
By the time we got to top of pedestrianised Buchanan Street the marchers had swelled to over a thousand. As we strode up amid a sea of banners the Saturday shoppers parted to the side with many filming the colourful event on their phones. That was the time of peak chanting -‘No vaccine passports!… No vaccine passports!’ I saw one instance of hostility from a citizen who got into an argument with us.
At the top, as we wheeled round at right angles towards the University the heavens opened and we go drenched. Fortunately most of were well clothed against the elements but I felt sorry for the few gents who were wearing shorts. On the leg back to the park we lost the fellow-travellers we gained on Buchanan Street but spirits were still high with no feeling of anti-climax.
We 500 reassembled at the monument and a cry went up, ‘Freedom!… Freedom!… Freedom!’. The crowd then settled down and the police gradually dispersed no doubt feeling they had done a good days work but, judging by some of their looks, resentful that they had to officiate at an unlawful event.
The march was soon reported in all the local papers (but not the TV) and the Daily Mail gave it splendid coverage. It was attributed to Scotland Against Lockdown with no individual being named. They are wisely keeping a low profile. There was no organiser visible during the event and apart from their Twitter I never saw any publicity except for my own feeble attempts. So it looks like attendance is by word of mouth.
The next demonstration is on Saturday 22nd January at the Commonwealth Monument on “Glasgow Green” starting at 1.00pm. I will be wearing my Yellow Spot.