Thousands Protest Over Iraq, Afghanistan In London, Glasgow
Thousands of protesters gathered in London and Glasgow Saturday ahead of the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, calling for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the capital, activists rallied at Trafalgar Square before marching the short distance to parliament while in Glasgow, demonstrators walked from the city centre to the Glasgow Green park on the banks of the River Clyde.
Police in London said there were 10,000 on the streets but organisers the Stop the War Coalition put the crowds at between 30,000 to 40,000.
In Glasgow, Strathclyde Police told AFP that there were between 1,000 to 1,500 protesters at the height of the march there.
A number of demonstrations are taking place around the world as the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20 approaches.
In London, where an estimated one million people marched through the streets about a month before the war in 2003, there were also calls against attacking Iran over its disputed nuclear programme and for an end to the “siege” of Gaza.
The veteran left-winger and former Labour Party lawmaker, Tony Benn, said Britain’s involvement in Iraq, where the country has 4,100 troops, and Afghanistan, where it has 7,800, had caused “devastation”.
The Green Party’s member of the European Parliament, Caroline Lucas, called for former British prime minister Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown to be prosecuted for war crimes.
“They need to know you cannot bomb your way to peace,” she said.
In Glasgow, protesters were joined by the mother of a British soldier who was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, left-wing groups and trade unions.
The Foreign Office described the protesters’ claims as “simply not accurate”, pointing to the “steady progress, particularly in terms of security” being made in Iraq and said the government had learnt from mistakes.
It argued that the NATO coalition in Afghanistan was winning the fight against the Taliban, with improvements made in education and eradication of opium crops while diplomatic efforts were ongoing to resolve the stand-off with Iran.
“No one is under any illusion that these are easy challenges but we are absolutely committed to making further progress,” a spokesman said.
(AFP)
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Sure the fuck you can …
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
March 15th, 2008 at 2:13 pmThose people look useless on the world stage. I hear people with blue magenta and pink hair will suffer under islam, when islam goes for broke in the UK. To tell the truth I’m surprised there’s enough men left in england to even create an army.
March 15th, 2008 at 2:15 pmThey are fighting against the wrong people, thats all i keep thinking. Yeah protest those who are your last chance rather than fight those who are threatening your own life.
fuck em’!
March 15th, 2008 at 2:20 pm“activists rallied at Trafalgar Square”
Dipshits gathered at the very monument to British Victory over a combined French and Spanish fleet on 21 October 1805 in the most decisive and important naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars. You know the Napoleonic Wars dontcha? The ones when that miniature French fucker and his Spanish lapdogs tried to take away the Brits’ freedom and make them all answer to him?
Yep, a little ironic hypocrisy goes a long way…
March 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pmKufir Ken,
do ya know that your civil wars guys were pows on british ships in Plymouth at the same time as the french Napoleonic seamen ?
that there were a surpopulation and vey little food available on these ships ? that the condition of surviving for the americans were worst than the frenchs ? (it’s well known that the frenchs are cleverer when it comes to surviving and managing traffics)
so your praising the nation that gave the untermensch condition to your people
I am surprised of your blind (for not saying idiotic) partisanery here
read the book of Louis Garnerey, it says all about it :
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Ambroise-Louis-Garneray : “un corsaire au bagne”
The ones when that miniature French fucker and his Spanish lapdogs tried to take away the Brits’ freedom and make them all answer to him?
it appears that you ignore the conditions of the french navy and that Napoleon was’nt a sea tactitian, one would know then
“By contrast, most of the best officers in the French navy had either been executed or dismissed from the service during the early part of the French Revolution. As a result, Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was the most competent senior officer available to command Napoleon’s Mediterranean fleet. However, Villeneuve had shown a distinct lack of enthusiasm to face Nelson and the Royal Navy after the defeat at the Battle of the Nile.”
March 15th, 2008 at 3:46 pmuh got a lost post there
Kufir Ken,
do ya know that your civil wars guys were pows on british ships in Plymouth at the same time as the french Napoleonic seamen ?
that there were a surpopulation and vey little food available on these ships ? that the condition of surviving for the americans were worst than the frenchs ? (it’s well known that the frenchs are cleverer when it comes to surviving and managing traffics)
so your praising the nation that gave the untermensch condition to your people
I am surprised of your blind (for not saying idiotic) partisanery here
read the book of Louis Garnerey, it says all about it :
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Ambroise-Louis-Garneray : “un corsaire au bagne”
The ones when that miniature French fucker and his Spanish lapdogs tried to take away the Brits’ freedom and make them all answer to him?
it appears that you ignore the conditions of the french navy and that Napoleon was’nt a sea tactitian, one would know then
“By contrast, most of the best officers in the French navy had either been executed or dismissed from the service during the early part of the French Revolution. As a result, Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was the most competent senior officer available to command Napoleon’s Mediterranean fleet. However, Villeneuve had shown a distinct lack of enthusiasm to face Nelson and the Royal Navy after the defeat at the Battle of the Nile.”
March 15th, 2008 at 3:53 pmnot civil war but revolution war sorry
March 15th, 2008 at 4:04 pmIf my son EVER came home with some bitch that looked like either one of those two, I’d shoot both of them!!! Fortunatly my son has better taste!!, and he’s hardcore conservative
March 15th, 2008 at 4:18 pmFranchie
With respect: What do the points that you raise have to do with British protesters gathering at the site of the victory of the battle?
Conditions in the French Navy and how the British treated US prisoners during our war have nothing to do with that either. I spent 13 years in the US Navy so yes, I did know that our sailors were kept on British prison hulks. I am also of British heritage - family came over on the Mayflower and all that. So in a sense I am both British and American and if I choose to be partisan in my comments I have both the heritage and the history to be able to speak with an opinion, and the freedom to do so by being American.
If I offended you by calling Napoleon a miniature French fucker I apologize. He was in fact French so I can’t get around that, and he was also in fact a miniature fucker so I can’t get around that either. His skills as a Naval tactician are not in question. The fact that he attempted to overthrow all of Europe and was eventually defeated is not being contested either.
The issue at hand is not whether Nelson beat Napoleon’s Navy at Trafalgar, or whether Napoleon didn’t have any good Naval leadership.
The issue (and my comment relating to it) are about the British protesters gathering at war memorial celebrating one of their cherished victories to protest. There is a certain irony in that. Napoleon was defeated in his attempt to rule over Europe, Trafalgar played a key role in that, yet these people protesting are perfectly happy with the new attempt to take over their way of life and they protest the people who are attempting to prevent it (and losing)
March 16th, 2008 at 7:51 amKufir ken
Ok, though your digression on Napoleon was “superflue” (redondant) in the occurence, or not quite well expressed like in your last issue ; I think that in this occasion you wanted to make with one hit, 2 points.
yeah, freedom of speech… allows that
with the respect, I was only making my point on your issue
also with the freedom of speech I am allowed to say that your were fuckin bastard
I also apologize for it
March 16th, 2008 at 3:35 pm