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More Than 100,000 Expected at Anti-War Protest in London
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| Preparations for anti-war demonstrations in
London |
LONDON,
September 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Well over 100,000
protesters were poised to descend on London for a "Don't Attack
Iraq" demonstration Saturday, September 28. Organizers hope that
will be one of the biggest anti-war marches ever in Europe.
The
march, past parliament and Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence on
Downing Street to Hyde Park, is being put together by a broad
coalition that includes veteran pacifist groups and Muslim community
representatives, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"We've
got a thousand coaches (buses) coming from out of London," said
Stop the War Coalition spokesman Andrew Burgin Friday, September 27.
"That's an enormous sum. We've never had that before."
"We
had a march last November (when the U.S. began post-September 11 air
strikes inside Afghanistan) of 100,000, so this will be in excess of
100,000. Privately I hope it will be 200,000," Burgin told AFP.
"There
is a strong feeling about this march," he added.
Blair
is the only European leader bluntly supporting U.S. President George
W. Bush's hard line on Iraq, though the British government puts more
focus on ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction than on regime
change in Baghdad.
However,
a string of public opinion polls suggest that the British public is
reluctant to support military action against Iraq, without at least a
firm UN mandate, AFP said.
Blair
will be facing anti-war critics within his own Labor party when it
opens its annual conference Sunday, September 29, in the northwest
English seaside resort of Blackpool.
Meanwhile,
and in attempt to win support or conduct political deals, British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is to tour the Gulf region after the
conference, while Blair himself is expected to go to Russia in early
October to see President Vladimir Putin.
Saturday's
protest, which has "freedom for Palestine" as a parallel
theme, follows two big marches in London last Sunday by over 300,000
people that focused on countryside issues, notably a proposed ban on
fox-hunting.
While
the anti-war coalition shies away from comparisons with that
demonstration, it predicts that their march will be one of the biggest
protests of its kind in Europe, at least since the Vietnam War, AFP
said.
Lined
up to address the marchers at Hyde Park are former UN arms inspector
Scott Ritter, who has come out against a military showdown with
Baghdad; Labor MP George Galloway, who met Saddam last month; and
Iqbal Sacrani, head of the respected Muslim Council of Britain.
Observers
believe that the growing public refusal of a new war in the Middle
East represents the biggest challenge before the B-B (Bush-Blair)
coalition in their plans to attack Iraq. After failing to convince
skeptics within his own cabinet with his much criticized
dossier on Iraq, Blair is now trying to join Bush in his horse
trading tactics to gain support for the war games.
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