Believe in Scotland changes independence rally to iconic Calton Hill
Believe in Scotland has changed the planned rally location for our Edinburgh March and Rally for Scottish Independence to the iconic Calton Hill.
Our march on Saturday 28th March 2026 will now start on High Street between George IV Bridge and North Bridge utilising Parliament Square as an assembly point and it will start at the earlier time of 12noon. Marchers are asked to gather from 11.30am onwards.
The march will proceed down the High Street as planned, then turn away from the Scottish Parliament, up to Regent Road via Abbey Mount, past the old High School and onto the iconic Calton Hill for the rally. Calton Hill boasts incredible views across Edinburgh and is a significant location for the independence movement being the rally point for the major indyref march and rally on 21 September 2013.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, the founder of the Believe in Scotland campaign commented:
“Like tens of thousands of others I was on the independence march in 2013 that rallied on Calton Hill and I suspect we all feel a little nostalgic about Calton Hill as a location. In many ways it’s an appropriate rally point, as Believe in Scotland’s march and rallies are often referred to as bringing back the positive, passionate, fun and family atmosphere of those indyref marches and rallies”.
Why the change?
We originally applied over a year ago in February 2025 to hold a rally at the Parliament grounds on 28th March 2026. The Parliament accepted our application at that time. Since then we have had meetings/conversations with the Council, the Roads department, Parliament and the Police and the march was fully licensed by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) for our original plan of a march ending with a rally at the Parliament.
However, after the Council issued its license, Parliament (the corporate body independent of Government) withdrew permission for using their grounds on the basis the date of our event is too close to the election. Of course the date of the election is set by legislation, so the date was known years in advance - that's specifically why we applied a year in advance in order to agree on a date as close to the election as possible!
We have found the recent attitude of the management officials of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) to be both inconsistent and frankly incoherent. However, since SPCB officials said no, and crucially the Parliament and not the Council owns the land, we had to find an alternative and we have one that works.
Calton Hill: advantages and addressing accessibility
Calton Hill is an iconic location and boasts amazing views over Edinburgh. Scotland’s historic stage for national expression where generations before have looked out over Edinburgh and demanded that Scotland’s voice be heard.
It also boasts a larger standing area than the parliament, and so can accommodate more independence supporters if they answer our call to turn out and get our movement back on the front foot.
The only reason we haven’t used this site before is due to the added costs required to make the site accessible. Ensuring everyone who wants to attend and be part of our movement can do so without worry is incredibly important to us and we are working hard to make the location as accessible as possible. This includes investigating hiring additional toilets and an accessible vehicle to improve access to the rally site and be part of this potentially crucial moment in our movement's cause.
March and Rally Details:
Meet on High Street / Old Parliament Square from 11:30am onwards. The march now starts at 12:00pm. This earlier start should make the day more manageable for attendees and allow people to travel home at a reasonable time, hopefully even in time to catch Scotland beating Japan in the World Cup warm-up match.
Those who are unable to participate in the whole march are welcome to join in at the bottom of Regent Road. As in past marches, those who feel unable to cope with the march are very welcome to go directly to the rally site at Calton Hill.
The rally is expected to start at approximately 1:20pm and will include speakers and performances to be announced soon. It is expected to end at around 2:45pm.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp comments: “We are confident that the new march and rally plan will be a huge success and that it can even be a pivotal moment on our journey to independence.”
“That journey may have stalled a little over the last few years and people are rightfully feeling frustrated, but this march and rally is an opportunity to put independence back at the top of Scotland’s agenda, to bring the independence movement together again and to state clearly that we are on our way to independence and the grassroots heart of the movement is going to force the pace.”
Next Steps
Our lineup is almost complete and we aim to start announcing speakers and performers next week. Check out Believe in Scotland's social media and website for details as they emerge.
