Polling stations turned in warzones as federal police tried to prevent the vote
“British riot police fired rubber bullets and seized ballot boxes from polling stations in Scotland on Sunday. As the vote opened, scenes of chaos erupted as police began moving in to prevent people from casting their ballots. Police forced their way into Glasgow University's sports centre where the region's separatist leader was due to vote. Scottish Vice-President Keith Brown said on Sunday afternoon that 242 people had visited hospital with injuries. So far 65 have been confirmed to be injured. Video footage appeared to show police firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowd outside the University. The Telegraph newspaper is reporting that a person has died due to an head injury believed to have been caused by a rubber bullet.” - Riot police in Scotland fire rubber bullets at crowd as they block voters at besieged polling stations, Sam Edwards, Reuters (2018)
Heavy handed action by the police only continued to stir tensions as the referendum campaign reached its zenith. The most violent day of the campaign would be in early August, where federal police raided a Glasgow concert by The Proclaimers, where several hundred activists including the Reid brothers themselves were arrested. 40,000 people would surround the concert hall in a flash mob preventing the police from leaving. Demonstrators destroyed Civil Guard vehicles and the Civil Guard agents were trapped in the hall overnight, not escaping until Glasgow police units arrived early in the morning. The whole affair was humiliating for the Civil Guard, having been so easily overwhelmed.
The Scottish branch of the FBU had been loyal supporters of independence
In the aftermath of the Proclaimers Incident Glasgow Police and Crime Commissioner Kim Long and Glasgow Police Commander Joseph Alexander were both arrested and charged with sedition, with Ministry of Justice officials accusing the pair of purposefully preventing local police from assisting the Civil Guard. A charge both denied, arguing they didn't have the time to prepare on the manpower to disperse such a large crowd. Several leading organisers of the protest also had the book thrown at them, with one 18 year old sent to prison for climbing on top of a police vehicle. All in all nearly a hundred people were charged for various offences at the concert, although the Reid brothers were released without charge.
Not trusting local police forces, especially in seperatist controlled councils, Westminster flooded Scotland with English soldiers and police officers, with 15,000 extra security personnel sent north of the border. Police continued to raid warehouses where ballot boxes and other election materials were held, leading to activists forming human chains around the warehouses. In some areas there protests would turn violent as police would violently clash with protests to try and gain entry. The most defining image of the campaign was off a British rifleman threatening an older lady holding a ballot box at gunpoint. The UK Government also used the power of tech giants like Google and Microsoft to shut down referendum websites. Most bizarre were clashes between the police and seperatist dominated firefighters corp, with firefighters in full uniform forming human shields around election workers.
Unionist paramilitaries set fire to polling stations in seperatist areas
“The fight between the Scottish and British authorities is expanding online. This week, an organisation managing how users find websites with the .scot extension was raided by the Civil Guard. The .scot domain is used by more than 80,000 websites promoting or showing information about Scotland. The website of the foundation running it shows the domains are intended to "raise the profile of the Scottish identity"." The list includes a fan club website for Celtic F.C. a weather website weather.scot, academic websites and local blogs. The authorities' move to target domains raises serious concerns with those trying to defend internet freedom. The technique is reminiscent of the days of the Junta where the government would often shut down parts of the internet and block or remove certain information.” - UK authorities try to shut down referendum websites, Maxime Schlee, Politico.EU
The night before the referendum was due to take place Worker’s Party Deputy Leader Aamer Anwar would be the first MSP to be arrested. Whilst the police had avoided targeting elected officials, fearful this would make them into martyrs, Anwar was taken into custody after speaking at an illegal conference on independence. Police also stormed polling stations in pro-independence local authorities, with the Scottish Government estimating 700,000 voters worth of ballots were seized by police the night before. At 6:30am on referendum day the Scottish Government announced they would be suspending rules on polling stations, allowing electors to vote anywhere, not just at their assigned polling station. President Harvie himself had to take advantage of this as his assigned polling station in Glasgow University had been destroyed by the police.
The results were explosive, a 96% vote in favour on a 46% turnout, the Westminster Government immediately seized on this as a victory, with less than 50% of Scots turning out. But the seperatist parties pointed out that voter intimidation and the seizure of voting places had artificially deflated turnout. Unionist supporters would counter this with reports of people voting twice, with some local authorities having more Yes voters than registered electors, and non-Scottish residents voting in the referendum. One Express headline reporting “coach loads” of Welsh nationalists being bused up to Scotland to vote for independence, taking advantage of the sudden change to where electors could vote, just half an hour before polls opened.
Four days after voting the official results were published, Patrick Harvie told the international press he intended to issue an official declaration of independence within a matter of weeks after consultations with the other parties in the Scottish Parliament. This was followed by the establishment bringing out the big guns, King Charles made an unprecedented direct political statement. In a Palace broadcast to the nation, His Majesty condemned the actions of the Scottish Government, calling the situation north of the border “extremely serious”. Lloyds bank announced it would be moving its regional headquarters out of Scotland due to fears of a unilateral independence declaration and even the Royal Bank of Scotland told shareholders it had contingency plans to move south. Ultimately the referendum had settled nothing.
“Two million Scots have braved the threat of a police boot in the face to demand independence within both the EU and the Eurozone. Scotland's claim to self-determination is strong – and should have been tested in a legal referendum. Instead, the whole crisis has been driven by Westminster’s attack on autonomy, itself driven by the need to impose austerity. It is tragic to see European centrism ready to dilute self-determination in the face of EU rules and economic rationality. Because progressive nationalism is not going away. From Barcelona to Athens, there was always a Scottish flag waving above the crowd. The “breakup” narratives of modern Europe are all driven by a central fact: the current settlement does not work.” - Speech by Patrick Harvie (2018)
Harvie promised a radical break from not just the UK order, but the EU troika order as well