PLAID Cymru leader Adam Price has said that “the tide is turning” on Welsh independence as a major independence march took place in Cardiff yesterday.
With estimates ranging between 1000 and 3000 people, organisers remarked that Wales was undergoing “an increasing realisation that independence is normal”.
Llywelyn ap Gwilym, a spokesperson for organisers All Under One Banner Cymru, told Wales Online that “several groups which believe that Wales and its people would have a better future as an independent nation outside the UK, including YesCymru and Undod, have strived to engage the broader public and bring the debate into the mainstream.
“There is an increasing realisation that independence is normal.”
Following the event, Gwilym: said “We had a really good turn out and more importantly it was a great turn out in terms of everyone bringing their flags, everyone singing and having a great time.
“I spoke to our police liaison officer and he commented how nice an atmosphere it was and it really was so we’re all pretty happy.”
Plaid leader Price blamed decades of neglect from the UK Government for poverty in Wales and went on to say that the Brexit chaos enveloping UK politics was enough to show that Westminster was “not fit” to govern or represent Wales.
Price attributed the shift in independence attitudes to the emergence of various grassroots organisations including Yes Cymru, Undod, AUOB and Welsh Football Fans for Independence and said that they were a sign that attitudes towards Welsh independence were changing.
“For many years, our desire to see an independent Wales has seemed distant,” he said.
“But, the tide is turning, the marches are growing, and the voices are louder. Decades of Westminster neglect have resulted in poverty and under-investment.
“A third of our children are living in relative poverty and you only have to look at the Brexit chaos to see that Westminster is not fit to govern or represent Wales.”
The march began at Cardiff City Hall and finished with a rousing rendition of Welsh national anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau at the Central Library, where Price was among a range of speakers.
“People are waking up to the idea that independence is normal and that the solution to our problems in Wales is to take our future into our own hands,” he said.
“Grassroots organisations like of Yes Cymru, Undod, AUOB and Welsh Football Fans for Independence, the repainting of Cofiwch Dryweryn and the sold-out, thousand strong Yes is More gig shows there is a new-found confidence in Wales’ future as an independent country.”
Price went on: “Imagine what an outward, fairer, progressive and welcoming country, with all the democratic and economic levers it needs and where anyone who wants to be Welsh can call Wales their home, could contribute to the world.”
He added that he was “proud to march alongside my fellow citizens from all across Wales to proudly declare that Wales’ brightest possible future is as an independent nation at the heart of Europe.”
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