AN ORANGE Order “cultural and heritage” event will go ahead today with permission from Glasgow City Council, despite a massive petition calling for it to be scrapped.

More than 25,000 people signed the online protest against the event, dubbed Orangefest, in George Square.

The petition says: “The people of Glasgow and Scotland are sick of their voices going unheard in relation to sectarian, hate-filled Orange marches.

“We demand that Glasgow City Council answer to the people of Glasgow as to why this was allowed to go ahead in a city-centre location on a busy Saturday.”

The Orange Order claimed the aim of the event, which ends in a 400-strong parade through the city centre, was to create a “better understanding of one of Glasgow’s oldest and biggest fraternal and charitable organisations.”