"Bush's policies will doom us to extinction," said Livingstone

LONDON, November 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Describing U.S. President George W. Bush as "the greatest threat to life on his planet", London's Mayor Ken Livingstone on Tuesday, November 18, voiced support for protests against Bush's visit to Britain. 

In an interview with the Ecology magazine, Livingstone accused Bush of being "the greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen" adding that his policies "will doom us to extinction", reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Urging Londoners and demonstrators to avoid violence during to the heavily-guarded Bush's visit, Livingstone assured the expected tens of thousands of protesters that their march would be upheld by the Greater London Authority and the Metropolitan Police Service.

"But you also have responsibilities to the people of London and the wider world. There will be no place for violence of any kind in London this week. Protests must be peaceful and within the law," he said.

"You have the moral high ground," the veteran leader told reporters in a direct message to the marchers. "You are protesting against an illegal war and occupation (of Iraq) and the world will be watching you."

Livingstone released a poll for the Greater London Authority indicating that 58 percent of Londoners believed the Iraq war was unjustified.

"I am not surprised with this result," Livingstone said. "Londoners have consistently been skeptical about the justification for the war on Iraq."

Asked if he would be joining the demonstrators, Livingstone -- who participated in anti-war marches before the March invasion of Iraq -- said: "I will be here in the (London mayoral) building just in case there are problems."

Livingstone is a popular figure among voters, who elected him in 2000 as an independent, and Prime Minister Tony Blair is hoping that he will rejoin the Labor party when he seeks a second term in office next year.

Security in the British capital will be at an unprecedented level for Bush's state visit, with more than 5,000 officers assigned to Thursday's march past parliament and Downing Street to Trafalgar Square.

"The police have an almost impossible task this week," Livingstone said.

Bush traveled to Britain on Tuesday for the first state visit by a U.S. head of state.

Bush has come to London once before -- in July 2001, but as Blair's guest, and in April this year the two leaders had a snap war summit in Northern Ireland's capital Belfast.

Massive Turnout

Percy is about to be arrested by police after climbing down from the gates of Buckingham Palace

With the Stop the War Coalition predicting a 100,000-strong turnout during Bush's visit, determined opponents of the Iraq war have lined up a series of protests, including a mock royal procession on Wednesday and a street march Thursday that will include the toppling of a Bush effigy in Trafalgar Square.

"Feelings are running very strongly and the more we are told that we should welcome the President, the more opposition grows," said Lindsey German, the coalition's convener.

"We fully expect that over the next three days the true view of the British people will become evident."

The demonstrators said they will topple Thursday, November 20, a giant homemade statue of George W. Bush in London's Trafalgar Square.

Protesters also plan to march over Westminster Bridge and past Britain's Houses of Parliament, before winding on through Whitehall to Trafalgar Square where the giant six-meter (18-foot) statue of Bush will be unveiled and symbolically toppled at around 1715 GMT.

"The idea is to highlight how fake the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad was" on April 9, Liz Hutchins, spokeswoman for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), told AFP.

"The footage of the toppling of the statue has been exposed as a complete fraud in that it was U.S. troops that help to topple it and the Iraqi people who were there were part of the entourage of the United States," Hutchins said.

Total Tragedy

"It was a symbol of victory for the U.S. but in fact the occupation has turned out to be a total tragedy," she said.

CND and the Stop the War Coalition on Monday gained authorization to march through Whitehall in central London, home to British government ministries and Downing Street, which houses the official residence of the British premier.

On Wednesday, an "alternative procession" will poke fun at the fact that Bush, worried by the prospect of massive street protests, will not receive a royal procession that normally accompanies state visits of this kind.

A magnificent horse-drawn carriage pulled by two horses and driven by staff in ceremonial costume will leave the London Eye ferries wheel on the banks of the River Thames at 1100 GMT, explained Stop the War spokeswoman Tansy Hoskins.

Inside actors dressed as Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and President Bush will wave ironically to the crowds of protesters.

CND will also parade a huge inflatable nuclear missile carried by people dressed up as U.N. weapon inspectors in white suits and masks.

"We will make the point that we have now found weapons of mass destruction, not in Iraq but here in Britain," said Hutchins.

Police arrested their first protester Monday when a 61-year-old grandmother climbed up the six-meter (20-foot) iron front gate of Buckingham Palace with a U.S. flag bearing the words: "He's not welcome."

Lindis Percy, a veteran peace activist, came down after more than two hours and police arrested her on suspicion of causing criminal damage and breaching the peace. She was later released on bail.

"I was amazed at the ease of it," she told reporters afterwards.

Bush's trip coincided with a fresh poll in the United States suggesting that his popularity is at an all-time low among American voters, just a year before the next presidential elections.

Forty-seven percent of respondents to the USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll disapproved with the way Bush was handling his job, according to the survey among 1,004 adults conducted last week.