Jobs Not Bombs rally by Stop the War, CND, PSC and BMI. Louise Christian reminds us of a Londoner held at Guantanamo
On 1 April, Stop the War, along with CND, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the British Muslim Initiative had decided to have their own demonstration well away from the G20 Meltdown Banquet at the Bank and the Climate Camp taking place in the City of London, picking as their starting point the US Embassy. 'Jobs Not Bombs' called for an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza, as well as an end to the senseless spending on bombs, particularly on the Trident replacement. There were perhaps a thousand or two for the start of the march at the US Embassy, although more who had planned to join them after marching to the Bank of England were held there by police and unable to attend. One of the few who did manage to get away spoke to the rally at Trafalgar Square; Ernest Rodker, was clearly horrified and gave a graphic account of the violent police attacks on penned demonstrators that were taking place at Bank. Trafalgar Square, was reasonably full for the rally, where speakers included Tony Benn - who got a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' for his 84th on 3 April. Other speakers included Arthur Scargill, fomer Miner's leader and now at 71 the leader of the Socialist Labour Party. The rally gave a strong message of support to Dr Daud Abdullah, Deputy General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, the subject of an unprecedented attack by the British government, which has severed relations with the MCB. Other speakers included Lindsey German, Betty Hunter, Louise Christian, Bruce Kent and Low Key, who spoke and rapped. As I left to go home, Julie Felix was on stage and I felt truly back in the sixties.
Size: 5040px × 3347px
Location: London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: banners, bay, binyam, bmi, bombs, british, campaign, christian, cnd, disarmament, guantanamo, initiative, jobs, london, londoner, louise, march, mohammed, muslim, nuclear, palestine, placards, psc, rally, solidarity, square, stop, trafalgar, war
