UK Feature Archive
London March to US Embassy
05-04-2003 04:15
Following on a group of around 100 people slowly marched up to Oxford street where they held a sunny sit down protest, blockading the intersection for almost one hour (pics), before police moved violently to push them back to the US Embassy (pics). They were held there for over an hour and then released in small groups after being told that if they protested again that day, they would be arrested (report). Despite this spirits remained high and people vowed to continue the protests.
By early evening there were at least 6 confirmed dubious arrests under Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 including that of an IMC-UK volunteer [report]. Most of those arrested where later charged, some with "highway obstruction" and face court cases early next week.
See full timeline reports.
Collection of 24 pictures
Collection of 7 audio reports
BBC report
More protests are expected in Scotland and all over the UK.
Variety Of Actions Against The War
05-04-2003 04:15
The Irish Anti-War Movement is calling for a mass demonstration opposing Bush's visit in Belfast on Monday. In Northern Ireland, peace campaigners are organising emergency protests. Derry has already held a protest.
In Edinburgh, 100 blocked an Esso petrol station. School students held a demo on Friday. Later in the day, demonstrators used masses of postcards with a "Fuck Bush" design. The week before, on March 22, an activist had been charged for holding up a placard with the same design (report).
Real Lives Not Media Lies
03-04-2003 03:42
These actions followed on from a demonstration outside the Manchester BBC offices Saturday the 29th, which saw two marches converge on the Headquarters. The previous night BBC deputy Editor Mark Damazar was confronted with a barrage of questions at a public discussion organised by Media Workers Against the War criticising the pro-government war led agenda.
A list of military/govt. claims and media counter-claims published by the MediaGuardian shows how some of the lies are being disproved.
Peace Campaigners Iraqi Diary
30-03-2003 14:40
"Husham Hussein said he was about 200 metres away, indicating a set of traffic lights, when it happened. He saw the missile hit the front of the building where Mohammed’s shop used to be. It wasn’t a huge missile, he said, which fits with the relatively small size of the crater. He said a lot of people were injured in the flats above the shops. The shops were all open and the market was busy. He thought 25 people were killed. Someone else said 45-50 people had gone to hospital. No one could think of a military target nearby."
Local Anti-War Actions M29
29-03-2003 04:59
Protesters in York held a die-in in the town centre with flowers being laid on the 'dead'. This was followed by a noisy demonstration through the city centre. In Cambridge 800 people marched in a protest organised by Cambridge Campaign for Peace. In a hastily arranged protest, the march ended with several speakers advocating civil disobedience. In Leeds protesters marched with someone present questioning the effectiveness of A-B marches with speakers at the end. In Norwich in East Anglia, Stop the War Coalition made a banner drop from a castle co-inciding with a noisy protest. Cardiff saw the city centre taken over as 500 protesters and a samba band made their way past rugby fans going to watch a game. Oxford had a heavy police prescence around their protest, which was attended by 800 people. Police even cordoned off a rally which was held at the end of the march. see pic. A march in Leicester attracted around 1500 protesters in a broad based demo. Thousands attended a demo in Sheffield where the theme was a funeral procession, with coffins at the front.
Dublin saw a massive demo take place and the video can be watched here. Another big demo took place in Edinburgh, with 10,000 protesting. The protest also involved a sit down protest, see pics here and here. In Manchester two seperate marches converged to the BBC in Manchester, with one banner reading 'STATE TV PROPAGANDA'. Some arrests were made after police violently pinned in a small group of protesters Newcastle saw a crowd of 1,000 attend a rally, before heading off to a war memorial for a two minute silence. Police attempted to block their path but protesters used various routes to meet up at the war memorial. A small group of Protesters starting from the London School of Economics dispersed after police vans were in attendance at the meeting point. Meeting at Covent Garden, they set up a 'Food not Bombs' trolley handing out free sandwiches, before being stopped. Determined they moved around Central London blocking traffic. In South London, three seperate marches converged in Brixton, where speeches were made, after which people occupied the streets outside the Lambeth Town Hall [report and pics]. Hackney saw 1500 people marching from Dalston High Street to London Fields where a rally took place.
Enfield, London had a small demo of 200 through the main shopping area and in Todmorden West Yorkshire, activists managed to shut down an Esso station. Around 5000 attended a protest in Newham which contains a large Muslim community. School students joined the protest which was very lively, with one arrest made.
Anti-War Protests Set To Continue
26-03-2003 05:05
Localised demonstrations across the country have been called by the Stop The War coalition for this Saturday, as well as a national demonstration in London on Saturday 12th April. See list of anti war events over next 2 weeks collected by ARROW, as well as a call to picket local army recruitment offices. April Fools Day (1st) a day of Disobedience and Reclaim the Media event has also been called. Protests at 9 military bases are scheduled for the weekend of April 5 and 6 under the banner "Reclaim the Bases".
On Wednedsay 26 Hulme bridge in Manchester was closed for 6 hours by a single protester. Students against the War also called a demonstration to the US embassy in London for Thursday March 27, in which around 1000 people ended up surrounded by police [video]. Thursday night also saw protests in Cardif [reports 1 and 2] and Leeds.
Direct Action is also announced for Scotland.
No War Radio And Other Media Resources
25-03-2003 03:46
• Alternative Web Magazines Here is a list of alternative publications reporting on the war and protests against it.• No War Radio - broadcasts daily 11-12am. In London, on FM 104.4 , and on the web.[Details]. "Today and every day - tune in, email or call"
• Indymedia Radio London - A program of news and views from the Indymedia newswires. Broadcasts every Wednesday 1pm-2pm on Resonance FM 104.4 in London, or listen online.
[ IMC-UK Radio Page ]
• Indymedia Cinema Screenings - Shows of grass-roots films and social documentaries. Every last Thursday of the month at The Other Cinema, 11 Ruppert St, London.
[ Details and Programme ][ IMC-UK Video Page ]
• Offline - The Indymedia UK News sheet - Monthly publication highlighting IndyMedia news, providing background information the corporate media ignores. Dowload Offline 12 to copy and distribute widely!
[ Offline Anti-War Special ] [ IMC-UK Offline Page ]
News from Iraq
24-03-2003 07:56
Civilian victims are reported from Baghdad and Basra [Sat M22 | Sun M23 | Pictures], and the Human Shields have sent some reports: [ Thu M20 | Sat M22 | Sun M23 | Mon M24 ]. Here are some reflections, a diary and a report sent to Voices in the Wilderness. A video and pictures of the captured U.S. soldiers shown on Al-Jazeera can be viewed via Dutch television. For more information see a report on global indymedia, and for a somber civilian bodycount see iraqbodycount.net.
There are also reports from many sources of a looming humanitairan disaster in the city of Basra. US/UK forces previously stated that Basra was not a military target , however, now the city is under siege, and subject to frequent air strikes.
More news from the region:
[Aljazeerah [en]| Kurdish media]
UK: Summary Of Latest Anti-War Actions
24-03-2003 05:58
Over the last week and the weekend anti-war protests were seen in the whole of Britain, showing to the politicians that the war still has no support from the public [UK Round up]. More than half a million people all over the UK threw off apathy, lethargy and resignation to continue their resistance against the War in Iraq - significant numbers, considering that the million-strong anti-war protests on February 15th were prepared for since the European Social Forum.On Saturday 22nd major protests were held at Menwith Hill, the US spy base, and U.S. Airbase Fairford.Resistance to the war has been shown in Scotland, Manchester [1 | 2 | 3], Bristol [1 | 2] and Wales [1 | 2]. Reports of anti-war actions from Newcastle, Tyneside, York [1 | 2], Cambridge, Hereford, Hulme and Liverpool
In London up to half a million people took part in the national demonstration that finished with a rally in Hyde Park. Once the speeches had finished, several groups of people took again to the streets to blockade major roads in central London. Oxford Street saw the biggest crowd when up to 1000 people blocked the street for several hours until police made at least one arrest and then moved to surround the crowd [pics 1 | 2 | video]. Another blockade of around 700 people took place in Park Lane where police used violent tactics to cordon off the crowd for a couple of hours. There were also reports of another crowd of 200 people blocking Charing Cross Rd and then marching towards Parliament Sq.
• See M22 Timeline of Events with reports and photos of demonstrations and actions from several UK cities.
• List of audio reports from Saturday 22.
• See IMC-UK World Page for M22 anti-war protests around the world.
• Electronic resistance against the War [1 | 2 | 3 | 4]
Police Use Pre-Emptive Strikes
24-03-2003 02:07
Protesters gathered in their thousands at the USAF base in Fairford on 24th March 2003, to voice their disgust at the use of B-52ís in the attack on Iraq (pics). The national event, was also attended by many local people who are living under the sounds of the bombers lifting off to drop their payload six hours away. Section 12&14 of the 1986 Public Disorder Act were imposed, preventing deviation from a designated route. There were four arrests under the 1994 Criminal Justice Public Order Act, two for failing to remove masks. One of the people arrested has been on hunger strike ever since (see press release). Aside from those that reached the demo, one coach from Swindon and three coach loads of protesters from London were prevented from even reaching Fairford. Pulled over by about fifty police. Every person was searched including their bags, whilst being filmed and photographed. The Protesters were then held on the coaches and escorted all the way back to London by three different regional police forces. After placing signs in the windows reading "Help we are being illegally detained", protesters managed to escape their temporary coach cell, when stopped at traffic lights in Shepherds Bush. Leaving via the emergency exits, they ran onto the street, rather than wait for Euston their destination where eight police vans awaited.
Additional reports of the day: Fairford Legal Team Press Release | Samba report 1 | Samba report 2 (inc Oxford St blockade + Park Lane) | Combined reports overview
[Pics1 | Pics2 | Pics3 | pics 4 | Pics Bayswater Road ]
Menwith Hill Round-Up
23-03-2003 06:58
Thousands joined the Foil the Base demonstration at the US spy base at Menwith Hill on 22nd March 2003. There was a carnival atmosphere with many people dressed in tin foil, music was provided by the Sheffield Samba Band and the Trollyd Soundsystem amoung others. There were a couple of attempts to break into the base, one using rope to pull down the fence and one to dig under it. There was a heavy police presence and several scuffles and some arrests.[full report | photos | video 1 | video 2 | report 2 | pic 1 | pic 2| pic 3 | pics 4 | pics 5 | Foil the Base]
Protests Continue As B52 Bombers Leave Fairford
21-03-2003 07:12
As the attack on Iraq intensifies and reports that B52 bombers have left USAF Fairford, actions and demonstrations continue today all over the UK.
The morning started with a Critical Mass bike ride through london, eventually leading to Old Street where 200 people blockaded the roundabout for 90 minutes. Other blockades took place on the Westway and Tower Hill. Manchester: Students attempt to block Princess Road, Hulme. Bristol: 200 people blockade the centre of town. Other cities where actions took place include [Stoke on trent|Oxford]
Click here to see the timeline of events unfold thoughout the day.
Around the world
Script kids active in Cyberspace
Listen to UK No War radio stream
Spontaneous Protests Against War
20-03-2003 02:10
Listen to UK No War radio stream
Thursday 20th - UK roundup
The morning was widely dominated by school students. They occupied Lancaster town hall, shut down the centre of Leamington Spa and took to the streets of Northern Ireland |pics. Meanwhile a Manchester head teacher has taken up police tactics to intimidate pupils who protest against the war.
A rally took place in Manchester's Picadilly Gardens, drawing over 5,000 people. A similar rally occurred in Birmingham.
In Oxford, thousands of people converged on Carfax tower, holding a rally at 6pm before civil disobedience blocked three bridges. There were reports of police over-reaction to the sit downs. See pictures.
Demonstrations against war raged through Sheffield for 9 hours today, there were multiple sit-down protests, the main roundabout into Sheffield from the M1 was occupied 3 times, petrol stations, the local BBC office and the police HQ were targeted by protestors. [Photos | Video1 | Videos2].
In Bristol, the centre of the city was gridlocked as thousands joined protesting students in blocking roads. Crowds pushed through police lines and the M32 was blockaded (1, 2)
In Glasgow, 2-3000 people halted all traffic around George Square at the heart of the city and the crowd took control over traffic at the whole Charing X interchange up till midnight, with a peace camp parked in a yellow junction box. In Edinburgh, demos and student strikes have been going on since Monday. Protesters stormed the castle and Princes Street several times, listen to audio report on thursday demos and summary of events.
In Brighton (pics), over 1,000 protested with some occupying the Town Hall while disobedients shut down Worthing. Up to a thousand school kids were holding a demomnstration inside school grounds in Glastonbury - supported by the school authorities who even called the local media to come and film the event.
Read about the peace camp in York.
In Swansea 200 protesters staged sit-down actions at major road junctions around. A march and Esso blockade was held in Halifax(1) (2) and fifty anti-war protesters blockaded the entrance the main Esso garage in Yeovil. An anti-war rally and vigil was held in Stoke-on-Trent, and students rallied on campus in Keele, and in Leeds council workers joined students for a day of protest, and further actions took place in Aberdeen, Barnsely, while in Cardiff evening protests brought the city to a standstill, which were later attacked by police
Thursday 20th - Breaking News timeline
Click here to see the timeline of events unfold thoughout the day.
Around the world:
150,000 demonstrators were reported in Athens and 15,000 in Thessaloniki as well as other Greek cities [report], as well as demos in Moscow and Holland; riot police attacked protesting lawyers in Jordan whilst thousands took to the streets in India. Tens of thousands of students left school to protest in Germany [video]; 15,000 blocked motorway north of Barcelona as 10,000 protested outside US consulate [pics 1 and 2], students and teachers went on strike; thousands more protested in Rome, Italy, Madrid where riot police charged the demonstrators [pics] and France. In Stockholm a demo took place at the US embassy. People burned US flags. Riot police, police dogs and teargas were brought in.
Photo gallery of protests in several Spanish cities
Public Access Space and Radio in London
19-03-2003 22:52
ENTERTAINING THE TROOPSA daily open radio space where the war media machine gets torn to pieces. Citizens will be tackling the questions hidden behind the sterile discussions on the legality of war and humanitarian genocide.
Broadcast over Central London on Resonance 104.4 FM, between 11am-12pm, available webstreamed at Resonancefm.com - There will also be a global Indymedia radio stream up and running soon, details will be posted here.
MEDIA STORM SHELTER
Free thinking chillout public access cafe. Bring yourself - optional laptop - and produce your own media. Recharge batteries and sanity. Share knowledge, learn from others
Don't stay at home, another war is possible... @ LARC 62 Fieldgate St E1 (Whitechapel Tube) For opening times contact 02073779088
Dawn bombing in Baghdad as Bush Announces: War has Begun
19-03-2003 19:10
[All UK local time]02:50 Explosions and sirens as UK/US forces target central and southern Baghdad, near the edge of the city. It seems the attack has been limited and the trumpeted "shock and awe" mass bombing will come at a later stage. Rumours in the media point at a possible attempt to kill some Iraqi officials after intelligence on their whereabouts.
03:15 Bush announces to the global media the start of the war, in a speech full of enemy demonisation -- children as human shields -- and nice PR-fodder about Iraq's people, culture and religion.
03:30 Main Iraq radio taken off air. Now it broadcasts psy-op UK/US propaganda.
04:00 Bush calls it a day, and goes to bed. The Pentagon has confirmed the attack was just an opportunity strike intending to kill senior Iraqi leaders in their sleeping hideout. Cruise missiles were fired from US warships and warplanes also took part in the bombing. Reports in Al-Jazeera talk about three dozen bombs.
Students Show Initiative And Political Radicalisation
19-03-2003 06:45
On Monday, 700 students took to the streets in in Totnes, South Devon, with over 200 blockading a petrol station. Students at Atlantic College in South Wales joined in a Global Peace Vigil as part of a worldwide show of opposition to War on Sunday. Members of University College London stop the war coalition dropped a banner reading 'No war for oil' and 'End the occupation' in Oxford Street during the Friday lunch hour, while others blocked traffic outside Parliament (die-in pics).
Six pupils from Hove who walked out of school last week to take part in an anti-war demonstration were suspended for two months and not be allowed back till their GCSE examinations. Eighteen students at another School in Herts, have been also been excluded for participating in an anti-war rally. Police refused to monitor an anti-war demonstration by more than 500 children in Oxford last week and blamed their schools and parents for allowing it to happen. The pupils brought chaos to the city centre after storming out of schools at lunchtime. In Sheffield on March the 5th, angry pupils stormed into 4 different colleges after having made their point in a noisy protest at the City Hall [Pictures and report].
This follows the thousands of children that have walked out of their schools across Britain and globally. Many student anti-war demonstrations since the beginning of March co-insided with the 'Books not bombs' campaign.
Manchester road block, Nottingham march and Sheffield die-in in anti-war protest
18-03-2003 23:36
On Tuesday in Manchester, Hulme & Whalley Range residents blockaded Princess Parkway in opposition to the intended 'war' with Iraq. Princess Parkway, one of the main roads into Manchester city center was blockaded from 8:00am to 9:30am by anti-war activists erecting a tripod of poles in the middle of the road while one person hung down from the apex. Traffic quickly stacked back causing chaos. The blockade ended with four arrests and a lot of traffic congestion. [Report | Manchester Indymedia]. Later on the day, a peace vigil was held at Rochdale Town Hall.
Meanwhile, people marched and gathered at Chetwynd Barracks, Nottingham to protest against the imminent war. The Barracks are the Britsh Army centre of mobilisation of the reserves [Report].
On Monday, Sheffield activists staged a die-in outside the Sheffield Armed Forces Careers Office [Report | Pictures]
Recent Anti-War Actions Roundup
18-03-2003 16:07
Recent anti-war actions have been happening all over the country this week. Monday March 17th was called by ARROW (Active Resistance to the Roots of War) as a national day of Die-In's. These happened in town centres, government offices and military bases across the country, against war on Iraq. In London, staff arriving at the MoD on Whitehall were met at the entrance by ARROW protestors on the steps, covered in fake blood painted and with 'No War' on the MOD pillars pics + uk reports list. They later went to Downing Street, where they staged another 'die-in'. Elsewhere in London, twenty people disrupted the trading floor of the International Petroleum Exchange in the city of London while others outside held a banner reading 'Oil Fuels War'. Two people barricaded themselves inside an office till the police removed and arrested them. In Sheffield, Women Against war and Sheffield ARROW pledge group staged a die-in outside the Armed Forces Careers Office [Report 1 | 2].Later the same day in Scotland, anti-war protesters, including many school students on strike against the war, stormed Edinburgh Castle and blocked the entrance, later leaving to block the main street with a sit-in protest.
In Portsmouth, 600 people marched through the streets and proceeded to 'Disgrace the Base' by blockading Unicorn Gate, the main accesses to Portsmouth naval base and the junction adjoining the base. There were 3 arrests reported for obstruction of the highway. At a Leeds Anti-War Demo on the 15th March, thousands marched through the streets of Leeds to oppose war [Pictures].
Additional reporting from Pledge of Resistance: In Southampton, 45 people staged a die-in outside the offices of Vosper Thorneycroft, warship and military equipment manufacturer and closed the gates for 1 hour. In Oxford, 100 people took part in a die-in at Cornmarket. Other die-ins in Birmingham, Hastings, Norwich, USAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire, Aberystwyth, Cambridge, Penzance and Scarborough.
At RAF Fairford, on the 17th March, over 100 women many of them grandmothers, blockaded the main entrance to Fairford airbase causing disruption to the normal operation as the USAF prepares for war. That follows an action on March 14th where two Trident Ploughshares activists disabled around 30 vehicles which provide essential support to the US B52 bombers stationed there.
In a news update the two Trident Ploughshares protesters who gained access to HMS Vanguard in November were given conditional discharges last Friday. An update on Fairford, as of March 8th 03, for 28 days Fairford (and Gloucestershire and Wiltshire) is subject to stop and search powers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This is the first time these powers have ever been used. Make sure you check out Fairford legal briefings.
Welsh assembly occupied in anti-war protest
18-03-2003 15:13
For the second time in six months, activists from Cardiff Anarchist Network occupied the chamber of the Welsh Assembly in protest at the impending illegal attack on Iraq. At 2:45pm on Tuesday afternoon, five activists leapt from the public gallery and staged a sit-in in front of the speaker's podium in the main debating chamber, bringing the assembly's business to a complete halt. At the same time, two more attempted to climb the truss inside the Assembly's foyer, and the last tried to D-lock himself to it. All were released without charge, and the group's action even garnered support from two assembly members who came out of the building to congratulate the protestors, saying that as Tony Blair had ignored the wishes of the people of this country and the will of the United Nations, he was no longer in any position to lecture anyone on illegalities. [Report 1 | 2].Dow Chemical virtual sit-in
18-03-2003 11:30
After the 1984 gas leak, which has killed 20,000 people to date, Union Carbide abandoned the factory site and fled India. For 18 years since, the toxic wastes left by Union Carbide have been bleeding poisons into the groundwater and affecting the health of the people living near the factory. Dow merged with Union Carbide in 2001 and paid up for Union Carbide's asbestos liabilities, but it refuses to do the same for Bhopal.