The Orange Order will be marching in support of the Union in Edinburgh tomorrow.

[randomness]

The Orange Order of Scotland will be marching through Edinburgh on Saturday, five days before Scotland's independence referendum. It is expected to be the largest Orange parade in Scotland since 1951. Two thousand marchers from Northern Ireland are expected to join over ten thousand Scottish Orangemen on a route through the city center along The Royal Mile.

I was going to say something snarky about the march until I saw the photo of twelve-year-old Kellsie Lynch bleeding from her forehead. She was hit in the face by a flying bottle (obvious trigger warning for that link) when a fight broke out at the end of the Orange Order's traditional July march through Glasgow.

Now I'm not saying anything else except that I hope security's better Saturday and no one gets hurt.

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

I gotta say, if I was Scottish, Orangment 'marching for the Union' would push me to vote for independence.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

The No campaign expects that as well, they're unhappy this is going on. The Yes campaign doesn't like these folks either, obviously, but the No vote is like "this is the opposite of helpful you guys!"

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I think there are many voters who feel that way as well. And not all of them are Catholic.

[eac.livejournal.com]

:(

I am worried that if it's as close a vote as they've been forecasting that there'll be rioting.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

It's been a remarkably civilized campaign so far, but it does look like it's getting more tense as the day approaches.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I hope with you.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

Being partially Scottish, I would prefer they not split.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

It looks messy:

But in a display of defiance redolent of their brethren in Northern Ireland, the Orange Order seems determined to make its mark on the historic debate, one way or another. Better Together’s dismissiveness has clearly stung the order into retaliation in the form of a reminder that few other organisations in Scotland have the same capacity to bring thousands of people on to the streets, and that this body still matters in the cultural tapestry of the west of the country (and other parts to the east), particularly in some of its worst socially deprived areas.

If the referendum has, among other things, put the concerns of the working class firmly back into the spotlight and become a battleground for their votes, the Orange Order’s intervention serves to highlight the complexities and ambiguities surrounding working-class identities and allegiances in contemporary Scotland.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Messy it definitely is.

Fortunately the march went off without incident.