THE biggest demonstration against Brexit that Scotland has yet seen is set for the Scottish Parliament on Friday, March 23, when a human chain will extend around the building as part of the Hands Off Our Parliament (HOOP) demonstration.
It will be a very visible sign of the anger of many Scots at Brexit and the Tory Government’s threatened power grab that will take devolved matters back to Westminster.
The HOOP demonstration will also show the growing power of the Yes DIY movement as it is being put together by Yes activists.
The idea was born at the beginning of January when the plan to make a human chain round parliament was hatched on a bridge in Fife in response to the attempts by the Tory Brexiteers to ride roughshod over the devolution settlement through the Repeal Bill.
The original aim by Dave Llewellyn and fellow Bridges for Indy activists was to try to get 75 people to Holyrood together to be able to cover the front of parliament – suffice to say it’s going to be a lot bigger.
After invitations went to activists across the Yes community, the number attending reached 300 within ten days and then went public.
According to Llewellyn the plan “has created a storm across a country waking up to the fact that Brexit is going to be a disaster for Scotland and that if the returning powers are grabbed then things like fracking could be introduced by the back door.”
Due to the mass engagement of ordinary Scots who have had enough, the Facebook page numbers are already over a thousand. This does not take into account Twitter, or the tens of thousands of flyers and posters about the event.
In the spirit of Yes DIY, these posters were made on people’s home printers and now Yes groups are spreading them along with news about the protest which will also feature at least 150 bikers.
Llewellyn explained: “People are driving up from the south of Spain for this and only this. There are others coming from France.
“The Yes bikers have offered their support and are running one of their famous THUNDER events to join hands with us on the day and make some noise.
“The original human chain is looking like it will exceed a mile in length and 101 shields are being made to form a defence along the front of parliament.
“There is an eclectic speaker list containing National columnist Paul Kavanagh who coined the term Yes DIY and who will be accompanied by a certain famous canine.
“What makes this event extra special is that it’s being done in a DIY fashion. There has not been a penny asked for, or indeed used in funding.
“It has been built wholly on the ingenuity of Scots all over our great country,” he added.
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