People's Democracy

Four Lakh Protesters Say No To War Against Iraq

Nagen Das

from London

OPPOSING the US and British move to attack Iraq, one of the biggest demonstrations seen in Britain, brought its capital London to a standstill on September 28.

Nearly four lakh people participated in the march organised by Stop the War Coalition, various trade unions and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Thousands of people from all over the country, chanting anti-war slogans, marched under banners and placards protesting against war on Iraq and in favour of creation of the Palestine state.

They marched under banners and placards of different shapes and sizes - trade unionists, students, Muslims, church-goers - and ordinary people without banners who'd simply come to register their protest and voice their disapproval of British and American government policy. The march and rally in central London was aimed at putting pressure on the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to withdraw his backing for President Bush, who's made it clear that he wants to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Hundreds of buses brought people from all over the country to join in the march. Many said they were there because they didn't agree with Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for President Bush's hardline attitude towards Iraq.

The marchers paused near the Prime Minister's London home in Downing Street to make their feelings clear before pressing on through central London for a rally in the famous Hyde Park.

Once there, several speakers addressed the gathering, including the former United Nations weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, who's opposed to a war against Iraq.

Another speaker was the left wing former British Labour MP, Tony Benn, who said, "this is not a protest - this is a demonstration on behalf of the overwhelming majority of the population of the world - many, many millions of Americans and Israelis too who think a war against Iraq would be a crime - it would be illegal and criminal."

The Labour MP, George Galloway, who last month went to Iraq to meet Saddam Hussein, was also at the rally. He warned that the consequences of war against Iraq could be devastating.

Galloway said, "I think it'll be the end of the United Nations Security Council as any kind of system for governing disputes in the world. I think it'll plunge the whole Middle East into uncontrollable chaos and bloodshed when they're not short of either chaos or bloodshed at the moment."

Among other speakers were prominent Left winger John Pilger and the London mayor Ken Livingstone.

Livingstone said the war was a pretext for getting a better deal for the energy-hungry US on Iraq's oil supplies.

"It's quite obvious to even the dimmest person that this is a war about oil," he said.

Such was the impact of the march that all major television channels in Britain including the BBC and Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV were forced to give a live coverage of it.

A rare thing in Britain these days for such an action. The unprecedented support for the march has shown that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Tony Blair to contiue his blind support for the unjustified actions of the United States.

A prime time Sunday evening PANORAMA programme on BBC’s main terrestrial channel saw an overwhelming 12,350 respondents out of a total of 19,000 saying no to war against Iraq - Is Blair listening ? The poll for a Channel 4 TV programme, also on Sunday night on – "War on Iraq: Which side are you on?," showed that there was a great deal of skepticism about the war against Saddam.

Asked who they thought was the greatest threat to world peace, 43 per cent said Saddam while 37 per cent said President George Bush.

(The writer was a participant in the six hour march)