GRASSROOTS independence campaigners plan to picket the Supreme Court on day one of the indyref2 legal showdown between the Scottish Government and Westminster.
Activists from the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) are set to demonstrate outside the court in the heart of London on Tuesday, October 11.
The group, which has existed for more than a decade, campaigns for a “democratic, secular, socially just and environmentally sustainable Scottish republic”.
The case, scheduled to last two days with a verdict expected at an unspecified date in the future, will hear arguments from the Scottish Government and the UK Government, with the SNP allowed to intervene by submitting written arguments.
If the court sides with the Scottish Government and the SNP, plans for a second independence vote will go ahead on October 19 next year.
If not, Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to fight the next General Election on the sole issue of independence, saying that if 51% of the popular vote goes to pro-Yes parties, the Scottish Government has a mandate for independence.
A RIC spokesperson said the group expected a small number of its supporters to travel down to London for the protest and that the organisation is in touch with Irish, Welsh and Scottish people sympathetic to the movement living in England, who they expect to turn up.
Robert Fox, a RIC activist in West Lothian, said: “The United Kingdom declares before the world that it is a democracy and respects and defends democratic rights. We challenge this.
“The Scottish movement for self-determination, of which we are part, is a movement for the development and expansion of democracy in which the people living in Scotland decide the nature of our government and our relationship with the other people of these islands.
“As part of this we wish to organise, amongst ourselves, a referendum to determine whether or not we wish to remain part of the United Kingdom. This is our democratic right.
“The United Kingdom currently boasts an unelected head of state, King Charles, and a Conservative government led by a leader, Liz Truss, elected to this position by Conservative Party members representing a tiny fraction of the UK electorate.
“This government is attempting to impose on people in the UK a programme that has not been placed before the people in an election but simply invented by a small number of Tory MPs.
“Meanwhile, a Supreme Court made up of unelected judges drawn from the privileged and monied classes will decide whether Scotland should be allowed to vote on independence.
