Whether they've opted to stay in Edinburgh by choice, or have failed to get on a coach to Gleneagles, a couple of hundred protesters are currently attempting to march down Princes Street. Police are holding them back west of the Mound, where a samba band has set up, and say they are going to allow the "parade" - as one policeman described it to me somewhat sardonically - to move along any moment.
Vanloads of riot police are bringing up the rear, and several mounted officers are stationed in front of the National Galleries, on whose steps a crowd of onlookers has gathered.
Further up Princes Street, a convoy of coaches bound for Gleneagles was being held up by police until a few moments ago. Glum protesters looked down form the windows, holding up signs saying "police entrapment" and "let us out". One member of the Rebel Clown Army held up a sign declaring herself "kidnapped by the clowns in yellow" - an allusion to the police's fluorescent bibs. The coaches have now gone, but it is unclear where.
Meanwhile, a circle of about eight policemen linked arms around a protester while two more officers searched him. The demonstrator insisted to a curious crowd of passersby that he had done nothing wrong,and merely wanted to exercise his right to peaceful protest.
