|
Europe and Anti-War Demonstrators Say "No to War"
ROME, Sept 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - While more than 20,000 anti-war protestors rallied in Washington yesterday against the U.S. government's planned military operation against those it believes to be responsible for the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, several thousand anti-war and anti-globalization protesters demonstrated in Europe, news agencies reported.
In England Sunday, several thousand anti-war and anti-globalization protesters demonstrated as Britain's ruling Labor party opened its annual conference amid massive security.
Apart from minor scuffles the protest was largely peaceful. Observers estimated the number taking part was between 2,000 and 4,000 - far short of the 10,000 originally estimated by organizers Globalize Resistance, new agencies reported.
They placed blame on the weather, with protesters being assailed by wind and rain as they marched to the seafront conference center in Brighton, on the southern coast of England, where the Labor event was being held.
Police were out in force and said they arrested seven people, six of them "pre-emptively" after acting on intelligence about suspected troublemakers.
Although originally billed as a protest against globalization and Labor's drift away from its socialist roots, protesters shouting anti-war slogans and brandishing placards calling for "Peace not war" swelled the demonstration.
They voiced their opposition to widely expected military action in Afghanistan by a U.S.-led coalition following the terrorist strikes on the United States on September 11th.
Between 5,000 and 7,000 people also gathered in Amsterdam's central Dam square on Sunday to protest against possible U.S. military action in Afghanistan, police said, news agencies reported.
The protest was organized by the "Platform against the new war," an initiative of several dozen Dutch pro-peace organizations, political groups, religious groups and Turkish and Moroccan organizations.
Protesters handed out pamphlets and stickers to shoppers in the Klaverstraat, Amsterdam's main shopping street, saying "No to war" and "Islam is not the enemy".
The platform stressed it was against terrorism and condemned the attacks on New York and Washington. During the demonstration there was a minute's silence in memory of the thousands of victims of the attacks.
The rally, the organizers say, is to protest against a military escalation of the conflict that could cause more innocent victims. They called for "justice, not revenge".
Some speakers also expressed concerns about the increasing number of racist incidents in society, often directed at Muslims or people mistaken for Muslims.
In the weeks after the attacks, the normally tolerant Dutch society has seen a rise in racist incidents and hate crimes directed against Muslims.
On Sunday, unknown men tried to set fire to a Turkish owned gas station in the northern Dutch town of Zwolle. The arsonists left a graffiti message on the building in German demanding that all Muslims be expelled from the Netherlands, news agencies reported.
Last week, thousands of anti-globalization and pacifist demonstrators gathered in Naples, Italy to protest the NATO military buildup and the threat of war in the wake of the attacks on the United States.
Thousands of people also marched in Rome and Milan last week, protesting both against terrorism and the plans for a U.S.-led war against it. An estimated 3,000 people demonstrated in the northern city of Bologna on Tuesday.
An Italian group, "No Global", a prominent participant in the violence-marred anti-globalization demonstration during the G8 summit in Genoa last July, has called for the 19-member NATO Alliance to be dissolved as the world was already over-militarized. Italy hosts important NATO bases at Aviano, Istrana and Leghorn.
Other cities across Italy have been called on to protest against the military buildup, as Roman Catholic organizations were also due to hold separate peace protests.
Similar protests have taken place in several other European cities, including stereotypically "neutral" Switzerland, where anti-war protestors took to the streets of the nation's capital, Zurich, last week.
Last Wednesday, the Parliamentary Council of the European Union requested that bin Laden be extradited to an international tribunal for trials in accordance with the United Nations Treaty for Combating Terrorism and United Nations Security Council Resolutions - citing the decision as an alternative to war, specifically to military attacks on Afghanistan.
The Parliamentary Council pointed out in its meeting in Strasburg, France, on Wednesday, that the attacks on the U.S. were criminal acts, not acts of war.
Furthermore, the majority of the Parliamentary Council voted for a resolution that suggested broadening the authority of the International Court for War Criminals to include those responsible for terrorist activities like the recent attacks on the U.S.
|
