March organisers' target is to stage Britain's biggest ever peace protest
More than 100,000 expected
Sarah Hall
Thursday September 26, 2002
The Guardian
More than 100,000 protesters are expected to descend on Whitehall at the
weekend for a rally opposing military action against Iraq, in what they hope
will be Britain's biggest-ever anti-war demonstration.
Organisers are confident it will dwarf the 100,000 they estimated turned out
for an anti-war rally in April, and could rival the 200,000 to 300,000 who
attended the CND protests of the 1980s.
Some 850 coaches - more than double the 380 booked for the April rally -
have been hired to bring campaigners from as far afield as Cornwall, Dundee,
Aberystwyth and Aberdeen. The organisers say they expect three times as many
protesters to come from the capital itself.
Lindsey German, the coalition's national convener, said: "We're expecting
this to be the biggest anti-war demonstration ever. We've already got 100
coaches from Birmingham and over 50 from Manchester, as well as from places
up and down the country like Horsham and Whitstable where you wouldn't
normally expect people to attend such demonstrations."
The CND-backed event, which includes the musician Damon Albarn, actor Julia
Sawalha, and campaigner Doreen Lawrence, will begin at 1.30pm on Saturday
and march along the embankment to parliament, up Whitehall to Piccadilly and
into Hyde Park.
Those speaking from 3pm will include the former UN arms inspector Scott
Ritter, the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, the veteran leftwinger and
former Labour MP Tony Benn and the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Right
Reverend Peter Price.
The Labour backbenchers Jeremy Corbyn, George Galloway, and Alice Mahon, and
Labour peer Baroness Uddin will speak, as will general secretaries of four
unions and Veronica Dunn, former president of Unison.
In a demonstration jointly organised by the Stop the War Coalition and the
Muslim Association of Britain, Dr Iqbal Sacrani, head of the Muslim Council
of Britain, and representatives from the Palestinian community will also
voice their disquiet.
The march, which is expected to be peaceful, will be policed by about 1,000
officers - 600 fewer than those deployed at last weekend's 400,000-strong
Countryside Alliance protest. Roads surrounding the route will be closed
from 11.30am.
Although the number of protesters is not expected to match the Countryside
Alliance total, the organisers point out that the rural pressure group spent
?1m on its rally, while they have spent only ?42,000.
"We don't have a fraction of the money used by the Countryside Alliance," Mr
Corbyn, MP for Islington North, said. "What we do know is that our
demonstration will be much more diverse and much more representative of the
country."
Speaking in Westminster as details of Saturday's march were publicised, he
added: "Opposition to this war in this country is the most incredible
coalition I have ever seen. You will see Christians, Muslims, the young and
the old, trade unionists and peace campaigners ... you will see all sorts of
people marching down the road in unity, and that is quite remarkable."
A total of 105 coaches have been booked for the West Midlands, 130 for
Yorkshire and the north-west, 30 for Bristol and Wales, another 35 for the
south-west, and some 60 for Scotland. But communities and churches are also
booking coaches independently.
Unlike the Countryside Alliance march, which featured bagpipes and rap
music, no music is planned, in keeping with the gravitas of the campaigners'
sentiments.
"If Tony Blair thinks he has got parliament on his side, he has not," Mr
Corbyn said. "If he thinks he's got the country on his side, he has not."
"Tony Blair doesn't speak for the ordinary people of this country. He speaks
for a relationship with George Bush. We speak for peace-loving people and
that's the message that will be going out on Saturday."
Why we will be at the demo: four voice war fears
Thursday September 26, 2002
The Guardian
Lizi Allnatt, 33, nurse and CND activist from Exeter, Devon
"I feel very strongly that if I don't demonstrate on Saturday, Blair will
take that as a sign I agree with the impending attack on Iraq. I don't agree
with it at all.
Bush is on a mission and I am absolutely not willing to support any attack,
expecially not one that doesn't have the backing of the UN security council.
Both Bush and Blair have tried to justify an attack by saying we can't
ignore a dictator who has ignored UN resolutions, but having worked for five
years in the occupied territories of Palestine, I've seen the results of the
Israelis ignoring 62 UN resolutions. The double standards are unbelievable.
I went on CND demonstrations in the 80s and I think that this is going to be
one of those massive demonstrations again. People in Britain are aware that
it's the ordinary Iraqi people who will suffer - and they're really unhappy
about it. Suddenly I feel we can't keep quiet any more.
We've got the power to make Bush think about what's he's doing because at
the moment Blair is his only ally and if we send a clear message we will not
support an attack on Iraq, perhaps we'll be able to force him to think
again"
Jemma Redgrave, 37, actor from London
"War on Iraq can only be justified on the basis of UN authority or by
reference to well recognised principles of self-defence ... There is as yet
no UN authority and nowhere, apart from in the feverish minds of Bush,
Cheney or Rumsfeld, is there a serious suggestion that an attack by Iraq on
the west or Israel is imminent.
I didn't go on earlier demonstrations but I am now because the countdown to
war has started and I find it terrifying. It's important to convey to Blair
that he still doesn't have a mandate for war, that the majority of people in
this country are against war, and that if we do go to war, we'll regret it"
Osama Saeed, 22, politics student at Glasgow university and member of the
Muslim Association of Britain
"I'm supporting this simply because I've got a social conscience. I've been
prompted by seeing the suffering of people in Iraq over the last decade
because of the sanctions and also by the people of Palestine who have been
waiting for decades for a solution to their awful predicament.
Showing solidarity with our brothers and sisters in other countries who are
hurting is part of the Muslim faith, but this goes beyond that: Muslims and
non-Muslims want to send a message to Tony Blair that we don't approve of
this"
Robert "3-D" Del Naja, 36, of pop group Massive Attack
"I haven't protested before but I'll be marching on Saturday because I feel
very very disheartened about our government and the way it's reacting to
America and American foreign policy.
"I'm not happy about the situation in Israel and Palestine and America's
attitude towards it, and as far as Iraq goes, the whole thing is looking
increasingly dangerous and unstable. I don't understand why we're thinking
about going to war instead of using UN resolutions. Everyone I have spoken
to in the last year feels that we're just coasting towards war, without any
real understanding of why we're doing so"
