Tens of thousands of people from across the country gathered in London on Sat 13 October to protest the war on 'terrorism' and Afghanistan. Demonstrators marched from Hyde Park to a rally in Trafalgar Square, organised by CND. The diversity of individuals and groups involved - peace groups, women's rights campaigners, Palestinian groups, pensioners, kids, Wombles, Muslims, Quakers and many more - was best described by one demonstrator: "We're not part of any group, we're just...people." At the same time there was also a protest at Menwith Hill.

See imc-uk special feature "Peace Not War" for in-depth anti-war info, analysis and reports.

Reports: one, two, CND report
Pictures: one, two, three, four (slow loading), five, six, seven (gallery) CND pics, GR pics 1, GR pics 2, U75 pics
Video report: one


OFFENSIVE WAR COMMENCES Oct 7 2001
Anti-war protesters have taken to the streets

As the bombing of Kabul started on October 7, peace protesters took to the streets of New York, London, Stoke on Trent, Colchester and Bristol in a series of impromtu demonstrations against the US-lead military strikes against Afghanistan. By 7pm, 50 people had gathered at Trafalgar Square while 100 held a peace vigil opposite Downing Street. A convergence at Oxford Street went through Trafalgar Square to Whitehall,then to Parliament Square chanting 'No War but the Class War'. The 100-strong, constantly moving demo kept police confused until dispersing into nearby side streets. There were reports of two arrests and a section 60 around a 'Wombles' group who later rejoined the protest opposite Downing Street where over 100 were gathered (see pictures).

There have been reports of similar protests across other parts of the UK - please send your reports to the newswire.
The lives of many Afghani civilians are at risk from the air strikes.
For the latest updates on the war in Afganistan see:
- www.indymedia.org
- Indymedia.org "Peace and Justice" Feature


PEACE / ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT Sep 27 2001
Peace Movement Roundup

Across the world people have been holding peace vigils, anti-war protests, rallies and meetings as a growing peace / anti-war movement takes root. In America thousands have protested in Portland, Berkley, New York Washington and other large cities, while anti-war protests have been held at over 150 college campuses. On over 20 US IMC sites many reports of events have been coming in - see recent highlights. There have been protests throughout Germany involving a total of over 15,000 people, in Australia, Italy, Canada, Austria, India, Japan, Pakistan, Mexico, Spain etc etc

Roundup of Events:
There have been recent peace vigils held in Reading, Nottingham, Glasgow (1000 people), Portsmouth, Leeds, Manchester, Dublin, Bradford, Birmingham, Brighton, Oxford, Cardiff, and many others with more events being planned every day. Click here for a growing list of up-coming events.

In London, the now regular Tuesday evening vigil opposite Downing Street drew around 500 (see earlier feature for previous weeks report), while the peace vigil on Saturday 22nd called by CND saw over 4000 people line whitehall - report and pictures. Read some corporate media coverage here.

A Stop The War coalition meeting in London on 25th Sept was attended by around 500 ( report),which followed the huge "Stop the War Before it Starts" meeting on September 21st - attended by an estimated 3,000 people - report one, report two, report three. There have been scores of other similar but smaller meetings including Sheffield.

With new emergency anti-terrorism legislation soon to be announced including the introduction of ID cards (see SchNEWS 324), the ever-reliable Statewatch has raised concerns that EU proposals may target demonstrations, protestors and the anti-capitalist movement.

Before the cancellation of the IMF / World Bank meetings in Washington many groups including FoE, the Sierra Club, Trade Unions, and the Ruckus Society pulled out of the Mobilization for Social Justice protests, but still plan to go ahead with non-action based events. Others however, including the Anti-capitalist Convergence are going ahead with protests with a new anti-war focus which started on Friday 28th September. See DC Indymedia for coverage. The planned NATO ministerial meeting in Naples, Italy, has also been cancelled and rescheduled to take place in Brussels.