WORLDWIDE DEMONSTRATIONS - ACTIONS IN 37 COUNTRIES PROTEST U.S. PLANS FOR WAR --CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
Europe and Eurasia
In Spain on Jan. 19, 30,000 people marched from Madrid to the nearby Torrejón military base. They demanded, "Stop the war against Iraq," and "NATO no, bases out," and protested Spanish government participation in the war.
In Paris, France, 20,000 people joined in a united march of diverse social, political and union organizations on Jan. 18. They marched under the slogans: "No to war against Iraq. Justice, peace and democracy in the Middle East and in the world." In Marseille, 10,000 chanted, "Bush, Blair, Chirac, we don't want your dirty war!"
Nice--credit: Indymedia
In Italy, Jan. 18 protests took place in Perugia, Bologna, Genoa, Naples- -and in Florence, where U.S. and Iraqi residents led a human chain of 5,000 people marching along the Arno river and surrounding the U.S. consulate. A march of 1,000 people to the U.S. airbase Camp Ederle, near Vicenza, was followed by a march of 3,000 to 5,000 through the city.
Rome--credit: RETE NO GLOBAL, Indymedia
In Britain the biggest demonstrations took place in London. On the outskirts of London, demonstrators surrounded the British Army headquarters to protest British participation in aggression against Iraq.
In Scotland on Jan. 19, the Scottish Anglican Episcopal Church joined the international initiatives by holding religious meetings against the war in its 50,000 parishes in more than 320 cities and towns.
In Ireland, Jan. 18 actions targeted Shannon airport, which the British Army has used in recent months to transport U.S. troops to military bases in the Gulf region.
In the Netherlands there were anti-war actions Jan. 18 in Rotterdam, Nijmegen and Leiden. In Uden, the Dutch police arrested 90 people who tried to approach the Volkel military airbase, housing U.S. and German troops, to "carry out an inspection of U.S. arms of mass destruction." The group demanded that the Dutch and U.S. governments follow their own advice for Iraq and publicize details of their nuclear programs.
Volkel--credit: Indymedia
Anti-war protesters marched 10,000 strong in Brussels, Belgium, demanding, "Stop the war against Iraq before it starts." The Stop USA! (United States of Aggres sion) Coalition organized the united demonstration whose march route passed the headquarters of NATO and the Euro pean Union. They raised their voices to say "10,000 times NO" to the 10,000 U.S. soldiers scheduled to be transported through the port of Antwerp.
Brussels--credit: Red Kitten, Indymedia
In Vienna, Austria, some 1,000 people, mostly university and high-school students, marched Jan. 17 from the university in the center of town to the U.S. Embassy, where they burned a U.S. flag and chanted, "Stop the war."
On Jan. 18 in Russia, several thousand people protested at the diplomatic offices of the United States in Moscow and Leningrad, in response to a call by the Communist Party. A banner outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow declared: "Iraq isn't your ranch, Mr. Bush." Slogans included: "[President Vladimir] Putin, stop kowtowing to Bush."
In Sweden, more than 6,000 people marched through the streets of Gothen burg, called out by working-class organizations.
In Oslo, Norway, 1,000 activists focused on the Parliament, where a cabinet member and a member of Parliament spoke at the rally.
In Germany, 2,000 people gathered Jan. 18 near the U.S. military headquarters in Heidelberg. Protests also took place in Cologne and Rostock. More than 5,000 turned out in the small southwestern city of Tuebingen. There were vigils and public meetings all over the country.
Heidelberg--credit: Indymedia
At the poles of the Earth there were protests. In Nunavut, in Arctic Canada, 500 of the 20,000 people in the town of Iqualuit held the new Inuit-governed territory's first-ever anti-war demonstration. And even in uninhabited Antarctica, people from the scientific team at the McMurdo Station joined with the millions of others around the world by forming a peace symbol with their bodies in the snow.
Published on Sunday, January 19, 2003 by CommonDreams.org: Human Peace Sign from Antarctica. Today people from McMurdo Station in Antarctica joined with the millions of others around the world in calling for peace not war. With the Antarctic Mt Range in the background we laid on the ice in a symbolic call for peace. Seven continents united.
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