CAMPAIGNERS who believe Scotland should declare a "unilateral declaration of independence" from the UK gathered in Glasgow on Thursday.
Around 16 people assembled at the Citizen Firefighter at Glasgow's Central Station, before walking toward Atlantic Square to stand outside HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) regional hub.
The group is calling for Scotland to declare itself a sovereign nation without the consent of the UK Government, because they believe independence will "never be given" by Westminster.
Among the speakers were Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, and Sean Clerkin, a long-time independence campaigner.
They cite successful UDI cases such as the United States, which achieved sovereign statehood through this method.
While some nations have successfully carried out a UDI, there have also been several failures, including Biafra and Katanga, and partially-recognised Kosovo, Northern Cyprus and Palestine.
Making a speech, Murray said: "We will never be given independence; it is for us to take our independence. The UK Government will never let Scotland's resources go voluntarily.
"Scotland's trade is all routed through England; we have no direct ferry links or boating links; nowadays 90% of Scottish Whisky leaves through English ports.
"We are continually exploited by England, who is a colonial occupier."
He also went on to criticise UK foreign policy, saying that Scots "have no problem with Russia," which was not an "enemy," as well as China and Iran.
Speaking to The National, and asked how a proposed unilateral declaration of independence would avoid Catalonia's fate, Murray said: "Catalans went completely non-violent. They said if the Civil Guard beats us, we will just be beaten.
"We don't have a Civil Guard in the UK, and I'm not quite certain we would get Police Scotland to bat old ladies about the head in Glasgow. Scots are not easy to push about like that.
"They also failed to line up support in the international community, so they had no support."
In August, exclusive polling revealed that when don’t knows were excluded, 45% of voters said they would either strongly or somewhat support the Scottish Government "unilaterally declaring independence from the UK”, while 55% would oppose the move.
Including don’t knows, the figures fall to 35% in support of a unilateral declaration of independence – still over a third of Scots – while 42% were against.
Doubling down on his words that "if you are not prepared to stand unarmed in front of a British Army tank, then you are not actually a supporter of independence at all," Murray added that the constitutional change wouldn't come without "confrontation".
Clerkin added: "An independent Scotland will be a revolution, and as Vladimir Lenin once said, 'A revolution is not a tea party.'
"There will be confrontation, non-violent, but there will be confrontation. The only violence will come from the British state. We will take to the streets, non-violently, occupying buildings, media hubs.
"We want to build a movement like the civil rights movement in America in the 60s. Non-violently confront the state and change everything, make Scotland ungovernable, and we will get our freedom."
The group held a large banner reading "England get out of Scotland."
It's a motto which was condemned previously by members of the SNP, including Nicola Sturgeon, who said the sentiment "has no place in the kind of Scotland I want us to be."
Clerkin insisted it had been "misrepresented" as meaning for English people to get out of Scotland, but said on Thursday its message was directed toward institutions.
