Is Big Ben's clock
face really an exact 100 metres above the ground?
Protests mark Iraq
war anniversary
2004-03-20 15:30
2004-03-20 15:30
|
Anti-war protests, planned in
cities around the world on the anniversary of U.S.-led war in Iraq, began
in Asia on Saturday with demonstrators demanding troops be pulled out of
the war-scarred country.
Rallies took place in Tokyo, Seoul and Australia and more marches were expected in Europe and the Americas later in the day. A big turnout is expected in Madrid, still shaken from the bomb attacks many blaimed on Spain's role in the Iraq war. Incoming Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq, calling the war a "disaster" and a "fiasco". In London, two anti-war protesters climbed the landmark Big Ben clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, unfurling a banner reading "Time for Truth" after they reached the clockface 328 feet (100 metres) above the city. "We want to send a clear message to (Prime Minister) Tony Blair that we and the British people are fed up with the half-truths and evasions on Iraq," said Stephen Tindale, executive director of Greenpeace which organised the protest. Organisers hoped as many as 100,000 people would march in London under the banner "No More War, No More Lies". But in Australia, the numbers of protesters was generally small, falling well short of the 200,000 or so people who turned out in Sydney alone for an anti-war protest a year ago. Some 3,000 chanting "end the occupation, troops out" marched through Sydney, carrying a caged effigy of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch supporter of the war. Filmmaker John Pilger and actress Judy Davis addressed the rally. In Melbourne the father of Australian David Hicks, being held as a terror suspect in a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, called for justice for his son. "David, if he has done anything wrong, should have been charged or released two years ago," Terry Hicks told the rally. Australia, a close ally of the United States, sent 2,000 troops to Iraq and also dispatched special forces troops to Afghanistan. Around 850 of its troops remain in the Gulf. In Tokyo, several thousand carrying signs saying "U.S. Go Home" and "World Peace Now," braved chill rain to march to Hibiya Park in downtown Tokyo. Japan, a staunch U.S. ally, already has 250 ground troops in southern Iraq on a humanitarian mission that could eventually involve up to 1,000 military personnel in Iraq and the region. Some participants wore masks painted to look like skulls, while others chanted "Get the Japanese Self-Defence Forces out of Iraq!" to a rhythm of drums and gongs. Yasuko Nagasawa, 41, said she feared the presence of Japan's Self-Defence Forces (SDF) in Iraq could make her country a target. "If the SDF stays in Iraq, something like 9/11 will happen in Japan. The troops must come home," she said. The Japanese government has repeatedly said Iraqi reconstruction is essential for peace in the Middle East and has vowed to continue its efforts there despite threats purported to be from al Qaeda naming it as a possible target. In Seoul, about 1,500 mostly young college students staged a peaceful anti-war demonstration ahead of a bigger rally to protest over the impeachment of the South Korean president. |
| Источник: Reuters, March 20 |
