INDEPENDENCE FIRST, the independence referendum campaign will be holding a major demonstration on 31st March 2007 in Edinburgh. The demonstration will consist of a march to the Scottish parliament and a rally outside the parliament. Press Officer Joe Middleton commented ”Last year, on 30th September we had around a thousand people marching to the Scottish Parliament. This year we are aiming for a much larger demonstration.” “I am very pleased to announce that Scotland’s premier folk singer Dick Gaughan will sing at the rally. Top Scottish band Mouse Eat Mouse and Edinburgh Reggae band Project Bona Fide will also be supporting our event. East Lothian singer songwriter Karine Polwart will make a special appearance and we are pleased to confirm that Ted Christopher will sing again this year.” “We can also confirm that River City actress Joyce Falconer will compere the rally on behalf of IF.” “The Scottish Independence Convention which is officially supported by the Scottish Socialist Party, SNP, and Scottish Green Party is officially backing the march as are all other independence supporting political and cultural organisations.” Mr Middleton added “We fully expect this demonstration to be the largest ever for an independent Scotland. After 300 years it’s important that the Scottish people have a choice on the issue of independence.” The demonstration will begin at East Market Street at 1pm (assemble 12.30) and will continue down to outside the Scottish Parliament. More information: This is independence First's second demonstration, our last one was on 30/09/2006. Independence First demands a Scottish referendum on Independence for the people of Scotland as our democratic right. According to opinion polls independence is the most popular constitutional option for most Scots living in Scotland. Independence means that Scotland would have the normal powers that almost every other country enjoys. Rather than political policy being decided by the UK Parliament at Westminster, it would be decided here in Scotland by our own Government. Scotland would be an individual member of the United Nations and we would decide our own foreign policy. We believe that after nearly 300 years of the British union, Scotland's right to direct consultation on its constitutional future, is long overdue. Independence First has no political views whatsoever and our campaign is intended to be wide enough to include every person living in Scotland. (Sympathisers who live outside Scotland can join the campaign as associate members). Photos and a report of our last demonstration are available here: http://www.independence1st.com/news/democracy_rally.shtml Because IF is wide enough to include all supporters of independence we have managed to get a lot of different diverse messages of support for the campaign which can be seen at our website: http://www.independence1st.com/content/supporters.shtml We have also written to the British and Scottish Governments and received replies: http://www.independence1st.com/comment/not_acceptable.shtml We have also sent an online petition to the Scottish Parliament with over 1300 signatures attached for a referendum which was ruled out by the public petitions committee: http://www.independence1st.com/news/msps_reject_ref.shtml Our march last year had around a thousand people there, we have a number of videos of it available on youtube, this one is an advert (with photos of the 30/09 march) for the next march: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2NBjMWH5zc

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2NBjMWH5zc