The Hindu : International : Anti-poverty march planned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 04, 2005

International

International

Anti-poverty march planned

Kirsty Scott

LONDON: Details for one of Britain's biggest rallies against poverty were released on Monday, as organisers stressed that the event involving up to 200,000 demonstrators before the G8 summit in Edinburgh would not be hijacked by radical anti-capitalists.

Organisers of the Make Poverty History day on July 2 have asked marchers to wear white T-shirts to form a giant white band around the centre of the Scottish capital.

Rumours

Officials have dismissed rumours that the peaceful protest just days before the G8 leaders arrive at Gleneagles in Perthshire for this year's summit could turn into violent disorder, as has happened at other recent summits in Evian, Geneva and Genoa.

Organisers say the march will be a fun day out with a very serious message.

``All this stuff about anarchists is just overblown speculation,'' said Richard Saville Smith of Save the Children. ``It is just not going to happen. Nobody has got anything against our event.''

Leaders to speak

After speeches by a number of international figures, yet to be named, marchers will start snaking through the centre of the town at noon.

The route bypasses the Scottish Parliament at the bottom of the Royal Mile and the adjacent Palace of Holyroodhouse, which are expected to be cordoned off by a steel fence.

More than 400 organisations have joined the coalition, including the Girl Guides, the Boys' Brigade, the Mothers' Union, and Islamic Relief. Opportunity

Mr Smith said it was an unrivalled opportunity to lobby the world's leading industrialised nations for fairer trading, improved aid, and debt cancellation for poorer countries. When the G8 was last held in the U.K., he said, 70,000 marchers converged on Birmingham.

``This is absolutely critical,'' he said. ``It is an opportunity to make structural change.

With the tsunami we raised £300 million. This is an opportunity to make a change that could save 30,000 children that die every day from preventable causes. —

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