BETTER together was the theme in Glasgow yesterday as speakers at the annual Orange Walk used their day in the sun to criticise First Minister Nicola Sturgeon over her apparent attempts to “manipulate” Scotland.
Taking on a new backdrop of Bellahouston Park, thousands gathered to hear a succession of speeches, many making repeated calls towards the Scottish Government to “respect the country’s wishes” and remain part of the United Kingdom.
To accommodate the second weekend of TRNSMT festival in Glasgow Green, around 60 flute bands were directed through the city centre as friends and family lined the streets to watch.
An estimated 4,500 onlookers followed the parade, many draped in Union Jack flags. Sons of Glasgow Partick and the Protestant Boys were two of the bands appearing on the day.
As expected, there was frustration for motorists and pedestrians whose Saturday morning had been largely disrupted by the event. Bewildered tourists and brave locals charged through bands to cross streets lined by police escorts. As the walk came to an end at Bellahouston Park, tops came off and drinking continued.
(Picture cfredit: Stewart Attwood)
The order’s Right Worthy County Grand Master Brother Edward McGonnell took aim at the Scottish Government during his address of welcome, stating: “The First Minister has decided once again that although we only voted recently to remain within the UK, she’s determined for a rerun to drag us out of it.”
He added: “Now this only highlights the suspicion of many within our country that the SNP care only about one thing and one thing only, and will manipulate any situation to that end – mainly independence.”
Despite a large police presence, a lack of bag checks allowed many people to take alcohol into the event. Police Scotland confirmed that four people were arrested during the day, including two men for breach of the peace. Another man was arrested for misuse of drugs and a female was arrested for being drunk and incapable. A police spokesman said: “An estimated 4,500 took part in the parade and 4,500 followed.”
The parade was decidedly rowdier as it made its way back into the city centre around 4.30pm. Crowds could be heard for miles singing and cheering along to bands’ instrumental performances.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel