250,000 protesters join peace march
An estimated quarter of a million people marched in London today to protest against any possible war on Iraq.
Organisers said that at least 250,000 people had joined the march which began at Embankment Tube Station, in central London shortly after 1pm. However, police were not able to verify this number.
The demonstrators marched from Embankment to the Houses of Parliament up Whitehall and along Piccadilly blocking traffic and spilling onto the footpaths. The march was due to finish in Hyde Park.
Organised by the campaign for Nuclear Disarmament the marchers were more a broad coalition of pacifists, socialists and the pro-Palestinian lobby.
The marchers chanted: “No blood for oil” and “Sharon is a killer”, referring to the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
One of the marchers was 14-year-old Hussein Mohammed who was born in Iraq but came to London with his family seven years ago.
Hussein said he was not actually opposed to an attack on Iraq as long as not too many civilians were killed. The teenager said even American rule would be preferable to that imposed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“I’m against Saddam because he doesn’t have a heart for any people,” he said. “I think he should be attacked. I’d rather have America than Saddam.”
But the boy said that any war should be directly against Saddam’s regime and not civilians.
The protesters were opposing proposed military action against Iraq by US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Organiser Andrew Burgin said the two world leaders had used allegations that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction as an excuse to fight a war that was about getting a more generous deal on oil in the region.
"We think there’s no real evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and even so we don’t think that’s the real reason for the attacks,” he said.
“The real reason for the attacks is oil.”
