[Peace-discuss] anti-war protests continue

[Ricky Baldwin]

Despite fall of Iraq regime, anti-war groups keep on
marching

April 12, 2003

PARIS (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of opponents of
the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq held new
anti-war protests across Europe and the Americas,
arguing that the regime's collapse was no reason to
let up the pressure. 

Possibly the biggest European showing was half a
million protesters on the streets of Rome, according
to organisers, while a similar number turned out
across Spain. 
Even in central Washington thousands gathered to blast
the US toppling of Iraq's Saddam Hussein as the first
in a series of occupation wars. 

"This is not about liberation, it's about the
occupation of Iraq and the plundering of its natural
resources," said Dustin Langley, a volunteer with the
protest's sponsor, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism,
or ANSWER. 

"We're calling to stop this series of endless wars, to
stop this occupation of Iraq and the Middle East," he
said, adding that the "axis of evil" fingered by US
President George W. Bush more than a year ago was no
more than a "list of targets." 

In London, tens of thousands rallied even as the first
British troops were set to pull out of the Gulf. 

"It is clear the war is not over," said Andrew Murray,
chairman of Britain's Stop the War Coalition: "There
are still people being killed and we will also
emphasize our opposition to occupation." 

In Paris, more than 10,000 rallied behind a banner:
"Iraq to the Iraqis". 
In Rome, crowds swelled to half a million according to
unofficial estimates. 

"The war is over in its most obvious form as a classic
means of destruction," said Fausto Bertinotti,
Secretary-General of Italy's Refounded Communist Party
(PRC): 

"But it continues as low intensity conflict and a
strategic hypothesis of world domination by means of
preventive war as conceived by (US President George
W.) Bush." 
Italian pacifists with banners reading: "Stop Esso
war," demonstrated peacefully at gas stations of the
American ExxonMobil oil group in protest at it getting
a 48 million-dollar contract to supply fuel to US
military in Iraq. 

One told Italian television: "We're glad the Saddam
Hussein regime has fallen, but it wasn't necessary to
impose this conflict and this humiliation on the
Iraqis." 

In Florence, three parties in Italy's government
coalition paraded in support of US policy in line with
government support for Washington, with banners
reading: "The French are cowards." 

France has strongly opposed intervention in Iraq. 

In Paris, banners read: "Stop the occupation of Iraq"
and "Yes to a democratic and independent Iraq."
Protesters chanted "US go home!" 

"We're very glad to be rid of Saddam, but we don't
trust the Americans," said Mazin Yassine from Baghdad:
"...We don't want a new dictator." 

Three men were arrested for possessing anti-Semitic
placards inciting to racial hatred, police said. 

In the Spanish city of Barcelona, more than 200,000
people turned out. 
They chanted "Aznar resign!" in protest at Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the American
line on Iraq despite its rejection by the vast
majority of the Spanish public. 
Some 200,000 took to the streets of the capital
Madrid, organisers said. 

Smaller demonstrations involving thousands were held
in other cities. 
In London protestors held a moment of silence in
Parliament Square at the Houses of Parliament. 

Organisers said 100,000 rallied against Prime Minister
Tony Blair's support for the war, with the crowd
chanting "Blair calls it liberation, it looks to us
like occupation." 
British film director Ken Loach said: "We have to stop
the occupation. This is illegal. This is against
international law." 

Saturday's march was the third held in London in
recent weeks over the Iraqi conflict. On February 15,
more than one million people took to the streets and
on March 22 between 200,000 and 700,000 protested. 

In Berlin anti-war protesters carried a banner reading
"Peace before occupation" to the Brandenburg Gate,
once the symbol of the division of Germany and Europe.

Police put the turnout at some 15,000. 

The scene was different in Kuwait City -- invaded by
Saddam Hussein's troops in 1990 -- where demonstrators
expressed gratitude for the toppling of Saddam
Hussein's regime. 


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