London, Oct 16, IRNA - The Stop the War Coalition in Britain is
calling for a day of action to highlight the public horror at a war
against Iraq on October 31 to coincide with Halloween.
The move from peace protests to civil disobedience comes as MPs
in the No War on Iraq Liaison committee held its first public meeting
in parliament on Tuesday to correspond with the House of Commons
reconvening following its summer recess.
Peace campaigners are planning to stage a variety of direct
actions, including work-place meetings, college occupations and
teach-ins, culminating in a synchronized protest at 1800 GMT on
Halloween day across the length and breadth of Britain.
Coalition chair Andrew Murray told IRNA that the anti-war
movement, set up at the start of last year's US-led war in
Afghanistan, was taking up the call made by former British cabinet
minister Tony Benn.
"Non-violent resistance to the government will show that they
cannot claim to do this in our name," Benn told the first mass
demonstration against an Iraq war in March.
The last mass rally organised jointly by the Coalition and the
Muslim Association of Britain was attended by over 400,000 in London
early this month, the biggest peace demonstration seen in the UK since
the height of the US war in Vietnam.
Murray suggested that both Prime Minister Tony Blair and US
President George W. Bush were "worried" by the turnout, but said the
civil disobedience would give them both a "bigger fright."
HC/AR

 http://www.irna.com/en/head/021016143841.ehe.shtml