Brawl Arises At London Protest Against Iraqi Sanctions
WASHINGTON & LONDON (IslamOnline and News Agencies) - Several hundred people demonstrated Tuesday on the 10th anniversary of sanctions imposed against Iraq outside the British parliament.
One person was arrested for clashing with police.
The demonstration was punctuated with drum banging, whistle blowing, and people carrying child-size coffins in protest against the suffering of the Iraqi people.
Among the protestors, a small group dressed in white anti-radiation suits and black facemasks struggled with, and were backed away by, British police, while another group of protestors staged a sit-in and blocked traffic.
One man, who was covered in pictures of dying Iraqi children, leapt over an outer wall and was arrested after breaking through a security cordon and into the House of Commons - the lower chamber of parliament.
The man shouted as he was being carried away, "over one million children have died because of sanctions. The war ended over 10 years ago - this has got to stop."
A large number of police vehicles and officers had blocked the entrance of parliament preventing any protestors from seeking any entrance to the House of Commons.
Since the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Baghdad has been put under immense U.N. sanctions. It has only been entitled to sell some oil in exchange for food and medicine under the supervision of the U.N.
Veteran Labor Party left winger, Tony Benn said, "It is a crime against humanity," adding, "we are destroying Iraqi society and killing hundreds of thousands of people with these sanctions."
Vet Richard Byrne, who returned Monday with two fellow activists from the sanctions protest mission in Iraq, said conditions for children in Baghdad were "appalling," and challenged the government to prosecute them for making the trip.
