A police official deployed to the march reckoned at least 3,000 people participated in the march that proceeded along the arterial roads of the town centre before congregating in the open ground near the Swansea Waterfront Museum.
The march saw cheery participants from at least three different political parties, including the Communist Party and the Wales Green Party. It was, dominated by Plaid Cymru—the Party of Wales. The event was organised by YesCymru, a non-party political campaign for an independent Wales.
"This is a call for the UK government to take notice," said Clement Louis, a member of Plaid Cymru. "There is growing awareness of the neglect of Wales...Over half the people here today, at least, don't speak Welsh. They have sympathy...," said the 73-year-old retired English language teacher.
The key issues that, according to the marchers, have fueled the demand for Welsh independence include the general "contempt" the central government allegedly has for their country, the economic neglect it has suffered over the years, and the steady effacing of the Welsh language.
The marchers also seemed to espouse, alongside the Welsh identity, a bouquet of causes, from trans rights to "Black Lives Matter" to "Tory racism". Britain's Conservative Party seemed to have evoked much snark in the marchers, some of whom carried placards ridiculing the ruling outfit.
Why Wales feels neglected
"The United Kingdom is busted. We keep trying to resuscitate it. I don't see any way out of it, except for breaking it up and starting again, really," travel writer Mike Parker, a native of England himself, told me at the end of the march.
"It (Wales) is only ever an afterthought. The UK is such a centralized economy...the country is so skewed towards its southeast corner. London is this great planet that eats up all the resources. It is so disproportionate, and that's why I say we need to rebalance," said Parker, author of Rough Guide to Wales.
A pamphlet issued by the marchers today asserted that Wales needed "a change of direction", with policies that will help its economy recover, provide good jobs for people and raise living standards.
Another leaflet, emphasising why the country needed independence from the UK, focused specifically on the "Great Train Robbery." This was an allusion to the great rail project planned to connect Manchester, Birmingham, and London, but designated an "England and Wales" endeavour. The notice claimed Wales had been shortchanged by £5 billion.
It also alleged that Wales had some of the highest energy bills in the UK, with some parts of the country "clocking in at £120 a year more than" the cheapest region in England.
While most participants of the March that I spoke to did not venture to set a time horizon for their efforts to fructify, some, like Parker, felt a lot of change could happen over the next decade. However, a poll of more than 1,000 people in the month of March reportedly showed an all-time low of 18% support for Wales to be an independent country if a referendum "was held tomorrow".
Nevertheless, participation in today's march indicates that the urge for independence, even if relatively slim, is alive and kicking just under the skin.
