Saturday 20th March 2004 saw the first anniversary of the unprovoked attack on Iraq by the United States led alliance. The Scottish Coalition for Justice not War organised the Glasgow protest against the war and occupation which started at George Square near the centre of Scotlands largest city. The march began around 1100am and worked its way down St Vincent Street, Renfield Street and Union Street past Glasgow Central Station to Argyle Street and St Enoch Square where the rally was held. Banners and placards to be seen read `Renfrewshire UNISON`, `Give peace a chance`, `Bush, Blair terrorists undermine justice`, `WIB (Women in Black) say no to Depleted Uranium`, `Reclaim our Rights Socialist Labour Party` and `Cut the Global Poverty Gap`. Protestors came from across Scotland with banners from Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the border town of Berwick upon Tweed in County Northumberland, England.

REPORT OF ANTI OCCUPATION DEMO - GLASGOW - SATURDAY MARCH 20TH 2004

The crowd, which assembled in St Enoch Square in the driving wind and rain, was estimated to be 2,000. Though smaller than previous protests it was a good size considering the atrocious weather conditions. Banners read `Bin Blair thousands died` and `Bush and Bliar are Essoles R U? See STOPESSO.com`. The crowd listened to a number of speakers introduced by the chair of the Scottish Coalition for Justice not war, Isobel Lindsay. She pointed out the waste of money that the war was. First speaker was Green MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) Patrick Harvie who urged people not to lose their campaigning energy. He said that the anti-war movement had been proved right about the absence of weapons of mass destruction and proved right about the awful casualties during the war. He also said there must be a solution to the Palestinian problem. Second speaker was Sandra White, SNP (Scottish National Party) MSP for Glasgow Kelvin. She announced that the three Iranian asylum seekers have decided to end their hunger strike. She expressed admiration for the courage of the people of Spain who recently voted out pro war President Jos Maia Aznar. Third speaker was Dave Moxam of the Labour campaign for socialism. He said that all right minded people in all parties are united in saying no to last years war, no to future wars, bring the troops out of Iraq. The sun made a brief appearance at this point. Carole Abubaid, who lived in Iraq for 10 years, made a simple statement saying that the biggest propaganda machine in the world has got 9/11 in everyones heads and we should remember 3/20, the date of the start of the war on Iraq. She repeated 3/20, 3/20, 3/20, 3/20!! There were enormous cheers for the next speaker, Scottish Socialist party leader Tommy Sheridan. He had been to a march in Pollok earlier that morning. He made the point that we could afford, as a country, to spend 6,000 million pounds to bomb and massacre innocent men, women and children in a foreign land but we cant afford to pay those workers who have dedicated their working lives to the education of children a decent wage. Speaking passionately he went on: Brothers and sisters, the reason we march collectively today in unity with millions throughout our world is because we pronounce today that we want to build a new world! A world, brothers and sisters, a world that rejects the path of violence and terror and instead embraces the idea of human solidarity and cooperation and mutual tolerance, thats the values we embrace! (Loud Cheers) He went on: Make no mistake, make no mistake about it! If Bush and Blair get their way then the cycle of violence which is now an everyday reality will continue to get worse. He paid tribute to the Spanish people who had the courage to go to the ballot box and reject their men of violence Aznar and his cronies. He reminded the crowd of the June 10th European elections. Use your vote in June he urged the crowd to reject Blair and his lies and his warmongering. He finished by asking 321 days after the end of the war where are the weapons of mass destruction? Tommys impassioned plea for peace drew prolonged applause, which was followed by a musical interval. The final speaker was Sohaib Saeed of the MAB (Muslim association of Britain). He said that the hypocrisy of the warring parties was very clear they want us to move on, move on, stop arguing over weapons of mass destruction, the war is over, lets build a new Iraq together. Ill tell you why they want us to move on, they want us to move so that they can move on and continue their campaign of destroying not only the Middle East but destabilising the entire world. We cannot and will not move on until Blair and his friend Bush admit to us that they lied and they were wrong and we as an anti-war movement were right. He said that the anti-war movement were right when they said the war would increase terrorism and that no weapons of mass destruction would be found. Bush and Blair had done nothing for Palestine. Bush, Blair and Aznar should be in front of a war crimes court. Like previous speakers he reminded the crowd of the June 10th elections. The rally finished around 1240pm, the same time the demonstration in London was about to begin. It was later reported that the turnout there was 75,000 and that two Greenpeace activists had succeeded in scaling the clock tower of Big Ben causing the security forces some embarrassment. There were rallies around the world with 100,000 reportedly taking part in New York showing the depth of opposition to war the USA. There were big rallies in Spain and the biggest of all seemed to be In Rome where at least 250,000 were said to have taken part. Some members of Edinburgh Youth against the War and several of the other protesters went to the Glasgow Film Theatre to see a film double bill. John Pilgers documentary on the attack on Afghanistan and Iraq `Breaking the silence` was shown as well as Pilton Videos `Old enough to know better`. Afterwards, Bryony, Aisla and Nick answered questions from the audience about the film they had made about the protests by young people in Edinburgh in the run up to war.

REPORT OF ANTI OCCUPATION DEMO - GLASGOW - SATURDAY MARCH 20TH 2004

REPORT OF ANTI OCCUPATION DEMO - GLASGOW - SATURDAY MARCH 20TH 2004