THERE was one police officer to every ten protesters as the 'Reclaim Freedom Square' rally went ahead on the eve of the Queen's funeral after a Scottish independence festival was postponed to next month over public order concerns.
No more than 100 people attended the demonstration in George Square on the eighth anniversary of the independence referendum which falls on Sunday. Organisers said they were greeted by around ten police officers.
Activists decided to organised a scaled-down rally after Yestival which was to include music and speeches was blocked due to what organisers said was public order concerns.
Former socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan and Hope over Fear were among the organisers of the Yestival, which was due to be held in George Square.
But the organisers were forced to reschedule the event after discussion with Glasgow City Council.
The Yestival organising committee said that "police concerns over public order and staffing levels" resulted in the council's permission to use George Square on Sunday being withdrawn and now the five-hour event is due to take place on October 8.
An alternative Yestival was planned for noon, while a few others looked to gather at 3pm, in defiance of the ban and organisers say that there were as many as ten officers at the event.
People decided to gather, and fliers were circulated to promote the new scaled down event on Sunday.
A spokesman for the activist independence group Scottish Resistance, said: "I think the police presence was a bit heavy handed considering the numbers. They were near us, but they didn't interfere.
"There was no trouble caused. A unionist who wanted to speak, spoke.
"We talked about freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and there were questions over the heavy-handedness over the cancellation of Yestival. There was no criticsm of the Queen because of the mourning period."
The Crossgate Centre Scottish independence community hub people were going to George Square "to make the point that we will not be told in our own country that we cannot rally for independence".
Blogger and pro-independence campaigner Craig Murray the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, has supported the move to carry on regardless.
The Proclaimers were among the acts backing the original Yestival event, with brothers Craig and Charlie Reid recording a video clip urging people to in Glasgow on Saturday October 8th, let’s hear the whole square singing this Independence anthem loud and proud, this is the lyric video"get along" to the gig "and encourage and move us forward in our fight for independence".
The city council has said that permission had not yet been granted, so it was not technically withdrawn and was not aware of any dialogue with the police regarding public order.
Police Scotland said it had not been approached about the festival and referred inquiries to the council.
The block on Yestival came a matter of days after two people were charged after being arrested for a breach of the peace during a proclamation ceremony publicly announcing King Charles III as the new monarch.
Ahead of the ceremony, republican campaigners urged those attending the event to object to Charles being made monarch without "public ascent or mandate".
Police have said that people “absolutely have a right to protest” against the monarchy following the death of the Queen.
The Metropolitan Police issued the statement following a viral video from Parliament Square in central London, when a barrister who was holding up a blank piece of paper was asked for his details by an officer.
The Yestival committee said in a circular to supporters: "Like many independence campaigners we are disappointed that we cannot assemble on the historically significant date of 18th September, eight years exactly since our first referendum, but we are going to assemble on the 8th of October only three days before the Supreme Court in London meets to deliberate over the Scottish Government request for legal permission to hold IndyRef2 on 19th October next year.
"It is an ideal opportunity for the independence movement all across Scotland to come together with one voice and declare loud and clear that no unelected judges or unrepresentative Tories in Westminster have the right to deny Scotland her basic human right to vote on her constitutional future after the principal party of independence in Scotland has won convincingly five consecutive general elections, three UK General Elections and two Scottish General Elections, since our first referendum in 2014."
Included among the acts due to take part in the festival was singer Sandi Thom and Port Glasgow rockers The Ronains.
An online fund-raiser for the event by the organising team only raised £430 through the gofundme portal.
The fundraiser stated that the costs for the even amount to nearly £4,000.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "Police were in attendance at the protest."
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