Independence march organiser jailed over row with council

Tens of thousands of people attended the march through Glasgow in May 2019

The organiser of a march in support of Scottish independence has been jailed for failing to comply with Glasgow City Council conditions on the event.

Mandeep Singh, of the All Under One Banner group, refused to change the start time of the event in May 2019.

The 41-year-old also failed to apply to have streets closed during the parade.

Sheriff Paul Brown ordered Singh be placed on a curfew between 18:00 and 06:00, but he refused to comply and was sent to prison for 72 days instead.

Tens of thousands of people took part in the All Under One Banner march on 4 May, 2019. It left Kelvingrove Park at 13:30 and made its way through the city centre before ending with a rally at Glasgow Green.

Earlier march time

Council officials asked for the event to start at 11am, having voiced concerns about congestion in the city centre and "public safety".

However, Singh, of Charing Cross, insisted the march should begin later, to accommodate people travelling from other parts of Scotland.

He also disagreed with officials over the route of the procession, and failed to submit an order to temporarily close the roads his group wanted to use.

The police ultimately manned the route proposed by Singh after he attended a police station the day before the march.

He was arrested the day after the march, and subsequently pled guilty to holding a procession not in accordance with council conditions.

His lawyer told Glasgow Sheriff Court that it was "not possible" to have the march earlier, and said a route had been "agreed by him and the police".

He said Singh could lose his job as a taxi driver as a result of the conviction.

Sheriff Brown told Singh that he had been "under no illusions that the time and route you eventually took was unacceptable" and that he had committed a "serious offence which had the potential to impact upon a huge number of people".

He initially ordered Singh be placed on a restriction of liberty order confining him to his home overnight, but after the accused refused to accept this he was jailed for 72 days.