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Dear Mark Lawton
Please forward this to anyone you think will be interested.
'Scotland says Not in Our Name, Mr Blair!'
The anti-war march and rally outside the Labour Party conference on Saturday
15th February organised by the Scottish Coalition for Justice Not War will
start from Glasgow Green NOT George Square as previously advertised.
There are two reasons for this:
George Square will not be big enough for the 20,000 (plus) people expected
to attend.
There will be a 'Festival of Love' event in the Square and the Council has
offered CND the Green instead.
Assembling on Glasgow Green will mean some important changes to advertised
details:
The march needs to assemble from 10am and will move off at 11.00am. (not
11.30 and 12.00 as previously advertised)
The route to the SECC is two and a half miles long (4km). It will take 2 and
a half hours for the march to complete the route. We want as much of the
march as possible to arrive at 1.30pm in time for when Mr Blair is due to
start his speech at 2pm. (It is possible that when the front of the march
reaches the SECC the end of the march will still be leaving Glasgow Green).
Public transport links to the Green are poor. If anyone belongs to a group
planning to attend the demonstration the organisers strongly urge you to
come in a coach or minibus. Freshers Haugh - an area on Glasgow Green - has
been set aside by the Council and the organisers with space for up to 120
coaches. (Cars will not be allowed to park on Freshers Haugh but details of
car-parking near Glasgow Green are available from Scottish CND.)
Coming by coach to the event will also make leaving the SECC a lot easier
after the demonstration. We are still negotiating with the Council and the
Police about arrangements for moving people away from the SECC when the
protest ends. Bells Bridge (over the Clyde to the Science Park) will be
closed through out the Labour Party conference for security reasons. It
still has not been decided whether we will be allowed to use the covered
bridge over the Expressway from the SECC to Finnieston train station - it
may be closed for security reasons as well.
We are therefore negotiating with the police about getting a street close to
the SECC closed for coaches to collect people after the demonstration.
Details about this will be available by the end of this week and will be
sent out to anyone who we know is organising transport and will be available
by phoning or emailing the Scottish CND office. (See below)
(Please note some green and black leaflets with 'Stop the War Coalition' on
them are circulating with the wrong e-mail address for contacting the
organisers of this demonstration - it is NOT [EMAIL PROTECTED] - this
is the wrong address. Use [EMAIL PROTECTED] instead.)
We are also making arrangements to help deal with the length of the march.
The police have provisionally agreed for us to place people carriers /
minibuses at points in the march for people to ride in if they find the
march is too long.
Please note the agreed order of the march will be:
Families with young children
Trade Unions
Palestinian support groups
Peace groups
Political parties
Others
Samba ya Bamba, Sheboom and Beat That have agreed already to join the
march - we're hoping other bands will make it as well. The bands will be
organised at points throughout the march. We will find out this week whether
bands will be able to travel on flat bed trucks.
Details of the rally at the SECC have not been finalised. We are asking
people to bring drums, whistles, airhorns and anything to make noise with
for the 'Jericho Rumpus' which will start at 2pm when Tony Blair is due to
start his speech. We are also producing card doves, peace symbols and cards
saying 'Not in My Name' for people to sign and tie around the SECC.
A detailed briefing will be available from Scottish CND as soon as most of
the details are finalised - if you want a copy and haven't received mailings
from the Scottish Coalition or CND before, contact the Scottish CND office.
Organising this event is taking a lot of hard work and cash. It is set to be
the largest peace event in Scotland for over twenty years. Groups are coming
from as far away as Manchester for it instead of the London demonstration on
the same day.
To make this a successful day a huge team of people are required on the day
and the week before. People are needed to help with setting up on Glasgow
Green on Friday evening and on Saturday morning, with stewarding the march,
setting up the rally site and with helping everyone get away from the SECC.
(Training and briefings for stewards will be arranged in the fortnight
before the 15th Feb in Glasgow.)
If you have any time to help please contact the Scottish CND office.
Scottish Coalition for Justice Not War
C/o Scottish CND, 15 Barrland Street, Glasgow, G41 1QH
Tel: 0141 423 1222 email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In peace
Phill Jones
Campaigns Worker, Scottish CND,
For the Scottish Coalition for Justice Not War
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