A MASSIVE procession down the Royal Mile is being planned for the main route of the march for independence in Edinburgh on October 6.

The National can reveal that the present aim of the All Under One Banner (AUOB) organising group is to gather the anticipated crowd in excess of 30,000 around Edinburgh Castle and then proceed down the Royal Mile to the Scottish Parliament before heading into Holyrood Park.

The location of the rally at the end of the march is still to be decided as AUOB are in ongoing talks with Police Scotland, Edinburgh Council and Historic Environment Scotland as to where the stage and stalls should be positioned.

The organisers say that they are already receiving the sort of feedback which indicates a large crowd heading for Edinburgh on October 6.

“We had 60,000 in Glasgow and 16,000 in Dundee,” said one source, “and indications are that the crowd figure will be somewhere in between.”

Manny Singh of AUOB said: “We are very concerned that there will be too big a crowd for the spaces we have been allocated at either end of the march.

“We know from our experiences in Glasgow and elsewhere that we can gather the marchers in a place to start off, and people naturally form themselves into marching order.

“So our main worry is where the rally will take place at the end of the march.

“I hope that the authorities will bear in mind that our first concern is safety.”