‘K the Unionist’ is a member of Scottish campaign group British Unity, which operates the largest ‘Vote No’ Facebook page. He authors his own blog and can be found on Twitter @KtheUnionist.
The build up to the Scottish independence march was gaining momentum on social networks all week. I saw the Scottish Nationalists on twitter claiming of 10′s of thousands of people will descend on Edinburgh in support of breaking the United Kingdom. What we saw in reality was a few hardcore Nationalists strut their separatist agenda in Edinburgh to the likes of Alex Salmond and a few other pro-independence speakers in the Meadows.
It was really nothing special. I thought that I would maybe see 10,000 independence supporters take to the city. Instead we saw an estimated 5,000 Nationalists waving their Saltires to their Dear Leader, Alex Salmond. Estimated number of attendees came from Lothian and Borders police.
More voters for sole Scottish Tory MP than attendees at ‘Yes’ rally.
This march was meant to show Europe and the world that Scots want to break away and be an independent sovereign state separate from the rest of the United Kingdom, it never achieved that goal in any way shape or form. It only aired the views of a small minority, nothing the world media could ever pick up on.
It never achieved the momentous figure we saw in Barcelona, where numbers of Catalonia independence supporters reached 1.5 million. If we want to compare a separatist movement in Spain of 1.5 million to a mere 5,000 separatists in the Edinburgh Meadows then it would seem laughable.
Some Nationalists were dubbing the movement the “Scots-Spring”, comparing it to scenes we saw in Libya and Egypt. I can’t comprehend how idiotic and pathetic it sounds to hear Nats compare something like the Arab-Spring to a few kilt-wearing loonies in the centre of Edinburgh. If I never knew there was any sort of movement on that day I could have just thought it was some Scotland fans heading to Murrayfield to see a rugby match.
There was reportedly some trouble at the event in which couple of people showed up waving the Union flag. The two unknown Unionists were both attacked by marchers on the ‘YES’ side. The pro-independence people pulled the the Union flag from the man’s hands and starting assaulting him, this then led to the police arresting two people.
Nationalists seem very narrow-minded, they can only see as far as “North of the Border”. Both sides need to respect others peoples views and opinions. Yes maybe it was not right that those two men showed up and started provoking some sort of reaction, though they were entitled to be there. This is what annoys me about a few individuals on the ‘YES’ side; they seem to think they own the place and no one else is allowed a view contrary to their own, it has to stop.
When put in prospective of how many showed at the “Yes” march it highlights why the United Kingdom is so important. The ‘Yes’ side felt 5,000 was a lot of people for their march. Though should think about the 10,000 people who rely on the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for shipbuilding contracts. If we look at the 11,000 across the submarine/Naval bases in Scotland – then we can see a real beefy number of Scottish people that depend on this United Kingdom for their livelihood. I’ve picked out one example of 21,000 people who rely on a United Kingdom. If they feel 5,000 show a mandate to break the Union then they really are deluded.
We are stronger as part of the United Kingdom. If Scots felt so strongly about wanting separation then they would have showed up today in Edinburgh in their millions and not just a few thousand. 20% of the Catalonia region was in Barcelona unlike less than 1% of the Scottish population in Edinburgh.
Comparative attendance of the two rallies.
The difference between the United Kingdom and Spain is that we in the UK encourage national identities, we do not hide them or oppress them. We Scots are encouraged to feel proudly Scottish and British. In Spain they do not encourage any identity but the Spanish one and that will come back to bite the Spanish government hard in the very near future.
The reasons for staying in the Union are clear and recent opinion polls show Scots are reluctant to splitting up the United Kingdom. People in Scotland will not be fooled by the likes of the SNP and their lies of creating a so called “Social Union” – it is either supporting a United Kingdom or going with the SNP and breaking the Union we have. The Union is vital for social, economical and political security. I feel that the majority of us Scots can see through the lies of Alex Salmond, we will vote “No” and secure our country.
Thank you for reading, see you again soon.
Website: www.britishunity.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BritishUnity
7 comments
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Old Albion
September 22, 2012 at 6:38 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Dunno why Salmond doesn’t ask the English to vote on Scottish secession. He’d get his independence then.
Syephen
September 22, 2012 at 7:41 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
The two unknown Unionists were both attacked by marchers on the ‘YES’ side. The pro-independence people pulled the the Union flag from the man’s hands and starting assaulting him, this then led to the police arresting two people…
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Er.. actually I was there and there were 3 hooded BNP supporters, one of which semed to have trouble keeping his jeans up, trying to cause a “situation” – he got eventualy what he wanted. Yes a flag was pulled down and both the BNP and Independence supporter were detained by the police.
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The offical number of attendees from Lothian and Borders police has been revised to 9,500 not far off your 10,000.
corrupt British politics
September 22, 2012 at 9:05 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I really enjoy visiting and contributing to anti Scottish Independence forums simply to do as you have just done, be truthfull, accurate and as impartial as one can. Now, just stumbled upon this site, utterly astonishing are the first two words which spring to mind. How disappointing to read such incredibly poorly reported mistruths. Does K the unionist really expect even semi-intelligent people to accept this drivel? Come on, surely you can do better than this. Well done Stephen in correcting this, shame on the person who posted this report! I will move on to another pro-unionist site where I can counter some of their not so blatantly one sided and blinkered view.
Kathleen
September 22, 2012 at 10:29 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Well said! I think this pretty much sums up the lack lustre, minimalist support the Natz have. Additionally Salmond’s earlier faux pas of inviting the radical separatist group the SRSM – and then uninviting them when he discovered their extremist agenda (although I refuse to believe that the First Minister was really so ignorant as to who they are – a simple google search will kick up plenty info on them) and attacks by his Natz minions on those who “dared” to show a Union flag really just sums up the reality: Nationalism is dirty. It is a nasty ideology and has been proved time and time again to be so.
Breaking up countries is never a pleasant process – perhaps the break up of the former Czechoslovakia is about the only example of a “peaceful divorce” – and its history was far removed from most nations who divide.
We are a small nation – the UK I refer to, and we are so interlinked, through history, culture, economy, employment, society and the majority of our people having links to more than one nation of the Kingdom, that there really is no logical or rational argument for Separatism.
National Separatism is the dream of a man who is slowly becoming more and more deluded by his own notion of self importance and infallibility. I can think of one other man in recent 20th century history who also had the same deluded sense of his role in the greater scheme of life – and look what happened to 6 million people as a result of that.
The poems of Burns, the imagined blood of Wallace and the spoils of victory of Bruce (a Norman descendant) can not sustain a nation of 6 million. The 4 parts of the UK are each important but none are more important that the whole part. Our unity is in our diversity.
The spectacle of a fancy dress parade out of “Braveheart” today in Edinburgh showed that not only do the Natz have no substance but that they are nothing but Anglophobic, inward looking Nationalistic racists – Scotland should seek to distance itself from such ugly shows.
STEWART WILLIAM
September 22, 2012 at 10:42 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
THE TWO SO CALLED UNIONISTS WERE SDL (NAZIS) WHO SPAT AND ABUSED THE MARCHERS – THEY WERE RIGHTLY REMOVED BY OUR EXCELLENT POLICE FORCE HERE IN EDINBUGH.
TURNOUT WAS 9,500
THE ‘BITTER TOGETHER’ CAMPAIGN AND THEIR RIGHT WING FACIST THUGS AND RICH SURREY TOFFS COULD NOT MANAGE 300 LET ALONG 9,500.
THE ORGANISER OF THIS EXCELLENT EVENT ARE PREPARING FOR A BIGGER EVENT IN 2013.
ON OUR WAY NOW …
Alistair
September 27, 2012 at 10:43 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Just read the comment above about the Police figure being “revised”. I just telephoned Lothian and Borders Police Press Office right now, Thursday 27th September, for confirmation and they are _still_ saying “5,000″.
Pax-RFS
December 28, 2012 at 9:02 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
it was way more than 5,000 and also there was far more than just two SDL/BNP members who got arrested.
there were FIVE altogether as can been seen in these videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7TTQiXQxWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjRLGDdn8pY
http://static2.demotix.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/a_scale_large/1400-4/photos/1348393159-scottish-independence-rally-draws-thousands_1470074.jpg
if you look at a picture.. belowyou will see that the Ross band stand area is FULL overflowing and it has a 12,000 capacity. the surrounding area was also awash with CIVIC nationalists.
http://static.blipfotos.com/uploads/58458/2012/1061598593506038b5c270e7.16975492.jpeg
i was there doing first aider duty and had a prime view of it all.
Kathleen , for your information the SNP/YES campaign didn’t organise the rally and march.
It was a small committee made up from people from all walks of life. some are snp members… most were NOT. Yuor assumption is 100% wrong.
as for racism.. look no further than you BNP,SDL,National Front allies who campaign under the British Unity banner with their neo-naqzi logo then we have the orange loyalists who have rampaged through Belfast and garnered support from the buffoon following over here.
in Ireland they have rampaged, attempted to murder by firebombing.. threatened to murder police, politicians from both sides, damaged property and threatened democracy itself.
THESE are YOUR campaign bedfellows.