The Vigil

Fraser McAllister, advised by Stuart McHardy, Gillian Grant and Bob Murray
The Vigil for a Scottish Parliament came about when protestors gathered at the
foot of Edinburgh’s Calton Hill. SCRAM ( the Scottish Campaign to Resist the
Atomic Menace ) members from Caithness were joined by the Greens and other
anti-nuclear, and anti-poll tax groups.
Hundreds occupied the pavement across from the Scottish Office, at the west gate
of the old Royal High School. This building was the proposed site for the
parliament promised by three of Scotland’s four main political parties.
It was 10th April 1992 and ordinary people were protesting at the re-election of the
fourth consecutive Conservative Government; one Scotland, once again, wholly
rejected. In shock, fury and bitter dismay many stayed overnight while others
returned the following day. Together they pondered what to do. Folk who had
travelled great distances had to return home and saw it as a successful weekend
protest.
Others resolved it should become a 24 hour vigil and that a brazier would be
needed. There they would stay, come rain, hail or shine, until John Major’s
government agreed to hold a referendum on a Scottish Parliament. The group
would be be non-party political and have a single demand, perfectly expressed by
the adopted name: ‘Democracy for Scotland’. In this way the Vigil was born.

Read the rest of this historic event by following this link…

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GGWGxZDFPRtpLx14uoNIRme15DCC3dLs?usp=sharing