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Call for end to 'occupation' of Iraq

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON SEPT. 27. Hundreds of anti-war protesters from across Britain walked through Central London on Saturday to demand an end to the `occupation' of Iraq, marking the first major post-war show of anger over the continuing presence of British and U.S. forces in a sovereign country.

Flourishing large replicas of mock playing cards with Prime Minister, Tony Blair's name distorted into `B.Liar' and denouncing `lies' and `deception' the protesters gathered in Hyde Park and marched through Piccadilly to Trafalgar Square in a symbolic reversal of the route taken by the million-strong anti-war rally in London in February.

The protest was timed to coincide with the run-up to the Labour Party's annual conference which is expected to be dominated by strong anti-war sentiment with Left-wing party MPs planning to move a motion against Mr. Blair's decision to invade Iraq. An activist of Stop the War Coalition said the rally was aimed at putting maximum pressure on the Labour Party to make Mr. Blair "see reason''.

Though the numbers were far fewer than what the organisers claimed, it was an angry lot and they made sure their voices were heard. For many it was their first public protest and they said nobody had forced them to join. `Outrage' was a word repeatedly used by protesters who said they were so angry over what was going on in Iraq that they felt compelled to "do something about it''.

"The situation in Iraq is terribly chaotic — we are seeing the deaths of hundreds of Iraqis each week,'' a spokesman for the organisers said.

The rally, organised by Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign against Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain, was backed by anti-war Labour MPs and the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who said it was important that the Iraqis were given freedom to decide their own future.

The presence of Dima Tahboub, wife of the al-Jazeera correspondent, Tariq Ayub, who was killed in the war, lent a poignant touch to the rally.

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