From: "mart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [pttp] Fw: Massive Demo in London Surprises Everyone
----- Original Message -----
From: NY Transfer News
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 9:58 AM
Subject: [CubaNews] Massive Demo in London Surprises Everyone
Via NY Transfer News * www.blythe.org * All the News That Doesn't Fit
[it would appear from the police estimate of 20,000 and the
organizer estimate of 50,000 that around 35-40,000 showed up.
Truly astonishing. The latest scare and horror stories showing
up in Murdoch's gutter press this morning (bin Laden's cyanide,
bin Laden's nukes, etc.) are a predictable reaction, attempting
to marginalize and dismiss this enormous demand for peace. The
US might even have to put off its anti-Iraq propaganda for a few
weeks while European reluctance is terrorized into submission.]
The Independent - 14 October 2001
Surprise at large turnout for national anti-war rally
By Cole Moreton
Old men in Islamic dress marched with former Greenham women and
dreadlocked anti-capitalists who booed when they passed McDonald's.
Yesterday's peace rally in London was the first major public show of
strength for a diverse coalition of people opposed to war which has
grown up by website and e-mail faster than in any previous conflict.
Even the organisers were surprised at how many people turned up. "The
police expected 10,000 but we have far, far exceeded that,'' said
Carol Naughton, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which
cancelled a planned demo against Star Wars in order to host the
rally.
The police estimated 20,000 people were on the march from Hyde Park
Corner to Trafalgar Square, while the organisers put the numbers at
50,000.
It was a noisy and unruly demonstration on a hot day but people
danced in the fountains instead of causing trouble. Attempts by
far-left groups such as the Socialist Workers' Party to dominate the
gathering were thwarted by weight of numbers.
Salma Yakoob of the Stop the War Coalition in Birmingham addressed
the crowd from the plinth in Trafalgar Square. "If only the leftists
had been here today people would have said we were all lefties," she
said. ''If only CND had been here they would have said it was the
middle-class elite. If it was only the Muslims they would have called
us extremists. If it was only Asians and black people they would have
said it was the ethnic minorities. Tony Blair, we are here united
against this war. You cannot dismiss us all.''
The poet Adrian Mitchell performed a piece which he had first read
out in Trafalgar Square in 1964. "It is about Vietnam,'' he said.
"But it is still relevant. It's about sitting faithfully in England
while thousands of miles away terrible atrocities are being committed
in our name.''
The Stop The War Coalition announced that it intended to hold another
national rally on 18 November.
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