Pop star hits back in G8 march row
Rock legend Midge Ure today told authorities alarmed about a massive G8 protest planned for next month: “Don’t panic.”
Bob Geldof has called for up to a million people to march on Edinburgh to protest against poverty in Africa on the day the G8 summit of world leaders begins at Gleneagles, Perthshire.
Police and council chiefs, who have warned the huge demonstration could end in tragedy, are meeting organisers this afternoon.
But speaking from his home in Bath, Live 8 organiser Ure told the Scottish Press Association: “I heard a police chief in Edinburgh quoted as saying it’s totally irresponsible what we’re doing and this gives anarchists the chance to hijack a high-profile event.
“But this is just scaremongering, it’s just crazy.
“Don’t panic. People have taken this figure of one million literally but it’s purely symbolic, it’s just Bob being Bob.
“We try to rein him in but you can’t control him. Now he’s gone to Europe and left me to pick up the pieces!
“He could have said 10 million, he could have said a billion, Mars is going to crash into Scotland, it doesn’t matter, it was a symbolic call for people to stand up and be counted.”
