Xinhua - Peoples Republic of China Peace Protests Target Britain's Annual Labor Conference ======================================= LONDON, September 30 (Xinhua) -- The British ruling Labor Party kicked off its annual party conference on Sunday in England's southern resort city of Brighton with thousands of peaceful protesters opposing the international "war on terrorism" marching outside of the conference center. About 4,000 demonstrators, including veteran activists of anti- globalisation protests in Genoa and London, came face to face with police as they arrived at the Brighton Center conference venue. Organizers from the Green Party and Globalize Resistance movement called for the anti-war protest to be peaceful. As the march ended, police said there had been seven arrests, six of which had been intelligence-led to prevent crimes by suspected troublemakers. Officers policing the march were part of a massive security operation in Brighton for Labor's conference, which includes a five-mile air exclusion zone to help guard against possible terrorist attacks. As the conference opened, British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged to press on with plans to reform the National Health Service and other public services despite opposition from union bosses. He said he was determined to push ahead with more private sector involvement in services such as health and education. Before the march, activist Jonathan Neal spoke to the crowd of demonstrators, who called for "peace not war" and waved placards with the message "we are not at war." He said the "the mass slaughter" of innocent people in Afghanistan had to be avoided. "I lived in Afghanistan for two years and I know the people there have suffered enough," he said. "We are told today that 13 lorries of food are going into Afghanistan to feed five million people who are facing starvation. "I was born in New York City, but I do not want to see what happened there happening 30-fold to the people of Afghanistan." Neal, who said he had been "gassed by police" during the Genoa demonstrations said there was a time for civil disobedience. "But this is not the time," he said. "We must send the right message back today that we want to stop these obscenities from happening in Afghanistan." The demonstration, called by the Green Party and Globalize Resistance, was originally planned to oppose what organizers called New Labor's "adoption of Tory policies". But a Green Party spokesman said the emphasis had changed " since Tony Blair threw his weight behind George Bush's military crusade." ::: Enditem ::: _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
