Festival parade for Merchant City

The Merchant City Festival is now in its seventh year

Thousands of people have turned out in Glasgow for the annual Merchant City Festival parade.

The event set off from Nelson Mandela Place and travelled along George Street before finishing at a stage on King Street.

The festival, now in its eighth year, is running from 25 to 28 September.

More than 200 performances of theatre, music, comedy, fashion, visual arts and film will take place in about 70 venues in the city's "cultural quarter".

Last year's festival attracted more than 50,000 people. Many of the performances are free of charge.

The attraction of record crowds was made possible by the partnerships we have forged over the years Neil Butler Merchant City Festival

Neil Butler, artistic director of festival, said it looked like they had already beaten those numbers.

He said: "We have yet to collate the final figures but we reckon they will be in the region of 65-70,000, which is the largest audience to date.

"Certainly all indications on Saturday were that the audience was 30% up on last year, something that we are immensely proud of.

"The attraction of record crowds was made possible by the partnerships we have forged over the years with organisations like the BBC, Scottish Opera and street performers and artists from the UK, France, Spain, Brazil and US."

Among the highlights will be the "Memory Projector" which will feature stories from the area's past and present. Audiences will be able to explore themes such as travel and journeys, memory and future.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra is also set to perform Edmund Meisel's score for the screening of Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" at City Halls.

The full programme is available on the Merchant City Festival website.