Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

Around a thousand people attended a demonstration in Glasgow to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the brutal occupation of Iraq, and to call for troops to get out of Iraq, Afghanistan and freedom for Palestine. One polish anarchist was de-arrested at the demo. The march went from Blythswood square to Glasgow Green, and generally went through the more quiet areas, but at times there were large crowds of onlookers. The Polish anarchists got into some trouble with the police early on when the police ordered them to take off their ski masks. They refused, and pushing and shoving started at the front of the march. Police moved in to arrest one of the masked Polish men who was sporting a large anarchy flag. Members of the autonomous bloc ran in to support them, chanting "let him go!" which quickly spread until a large number of demonstrators were chanting with their fists raised, intimidating the police into letting the Polish man back into the crowd. The StWC stewards were initially doing the job of the police, however they sensed the mood of the crowd and moved to assist the Poles. A few minutes later one of the 'head' stewards told the de-arrested man that they wanted him to stay with them on the march until the end. One protester had a placard saying "We support the troops that shoot their officers". Some of the more interesting banners read "our resistance is as transnational as capital", "Prince Harry: Shut the fuck up!" and "Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity". Rose Gentle from Military Families Against War attended, as did members of Solidarity, the Communist Party of Britain, SNP and Unison amongst others. Many MPs, MSPs and trade unionists gave speeches at the end of the march. The demonstration was part of a week of protests all over the world including London, Washington, Beirut, Sydney and Seoul The London demonstration occurring at the same time attracted 40,000 people according to organisers. The Glasgow demonstration was organised by the Scottish Stop the War Coalition.

Comments

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

i would like to point out that not all of the stewards moved to assist the poles, not even after the crowd had shown their solidarity with them.But well done to those that actually helped the protesters rather than the police.

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

That was a really trippy demo. Where was the individuality besides some of the anarchists placards?Alli could see were loads of cloned SWP placards with the uniformity of simliar layouts and colours, with only 3 variations. Protests should be a creative thing where individuality shines. Also, being hereded by the 'stewards' and police out of the city centre to the green was a great way of keeping the issue and demo away from the main public in the city centre. Bravo STW organisers, you matched the 2003 demo.(can you feel the sarcasm?#:)

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

not demonstrating against war. Demonstrating for the front org known as Stop the War "Coalition".

Didn't see the autonomous bloc

The tallest Peace flag in the world
and a drunk guy giving the Nazi salute.
But here's some of what I did see. (They're not very representative of the march because I have enough photographs like that.) Any plans to put "Prince Harry - Shut the Fuck Up" on a t-shirt ?

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

autonomus bloc? it is overinterpretation, I think. there was none bloc. there were just common guys, who were brave enough to stop uniformed sheepshagers from taking the Pole off from the demo.

The Autonomous Sprinkle

It was more like an "autonomous sprinkle". We didnt stick together. But i was at the front supporting the polish folk when the police were messing around. a few of our lot did start the chanting and raised fists, and were involved in the de-arrest :)

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

we did well. he was not taken out anyway. good job. stand together fight together!

meet up?

If there are any polish anarchists looking at this article who want to get a beer some time next week, send me an email. I was at the demo and helped with the de-arrest, and I remember you said you were off to a punk gig in bannermans, but i was too tired cos i was up til 4am the night before at a party. thelandisours (at) riseup (dot) net

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

Marching for peace is like fucking..... pointless. Hasn't that been proven over the last five years? (and aeons previously) Do prove me wrong though... Why not hit a smaller target you actually have a chance of influencing, if you must get dabble in politics? World peace is great for an outpouring of energy but who are you speaking to? Head of lockheed martin? Heed of british aerospace (prince harry?) Comparing notes over trivial scuffles with Police in this context seems reminiscient of football casual fighting buzz stories I have been party to over the years and find tedious. Get real!

to the above anonymous poster

some people did: check out this article.

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

"Marching for peace is like fucking..... pointless." each to their own, but i dont see either as pointless, perhaps STW can do a fucking for peace next time

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

i kinda hoped that stw would fade under the water and something more useful would have arisen by now.To be fair i think this is happening slowly, problem i have is the complete uselessness of the group. Like was said earlier, such protests against governement get no where.we need direct action against carefully selected targets. I have been screaming out for a boycott the war campaign for years now to little avail. bizzarely stw wont do as they (and i quote) "cant appear anti capitalist"

Re: Protest marks anniversary of brutal Iraq occupation

hmm thats interesting about the boycott the war campaign being shelved for being 'anti-capitalist'. Another interesting anti-militarist campaign is Smash EDO, where activists have been regularly protesting against a bomb-manufacturing company in Brighton called EDO-MBM; using civil disobedience and non-violent direct action to disrupt the company. They have done road blockades, rooftop occupations, and attempted weapons inspections. This campaign has been going on since 2004 I think and hasn't stopped yet. See - http://www.smashedo.org.uk/news.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_EDO_Corporation#Smash_EDO the Smash EDO group are touring with their new video at the moment, and are coming to the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh on the 17th of april.

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