The protests coming in through the windows only served to back up the message inside the hall. Not one person spoke in favour of Tony Blair's position and there were some pretty strong speeches against! The minister spoke about UN resolutions and Saddam's wickedness (and even managed a tirade against Stalin) but didn't begin to answer the questions. Nor was it at all clear that he was going to take the message back to Downing Street, though he promised he was listening. Anne Campbell was listening too – silently - and not looking very happy! We don't doubt Blair's sincerity, its just that he's wrong (loud clapping) and we can't believe the governments' arguments (more loud clapping). One member asked for a show of hands in support of Chris Smith's amendment in Parliament last week. All but a very few put their hands up.

During the meeting a board was passed round for names of those who wanted to join Labour Against the War. If you are (still) a member of the Labour Party and want to FIGHT AGAINST THE WAR AND AGAINST THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BRITISH LABOUR MOVEMENT you can contact Sarah on 313119 or e-mail  SarahRGlynn@hotmail.com

Last night anti-war activists in Cambridge staged a noisy protest outside the offices of the local Labour Party. Local MP, Anne Campbell had invited a junior defence minister to try to persuade the local party that killing thousands of Iraqi's was a brilliant idea (he failed by the way - in an informal vote at the end no one supported military action and only 2 or 3 failed to vote either way).

The Minister and MP arrived to be greeted by the naked arses of several activists. Their cheeks were covered in slogans such as 'Ethical Foreign Policy - MY ARSE' and simply 'NO WAR'. The protesters made sure those in the meeting couldn't forget they were there but chanting and singing for much of the meeting.

When the Minister tried to leave his car was surrounded by about 10 people who sat down in the road. At this point he was treated to another display of some anti-war arse, just in case he hadn't taken it all in first time round. The police took a while to arrive (hard to believe that they hadn't been called earlier) during which time at least one labour party member joined the protest while others encouraged the protesters to move.

The (two!) cops got annoyed after being on the scene for a couple of minutes and started threatening arrests. People started walking very slowly in front of the car and held it up for a bit longer. In total, activists had about 15 minutes to get their message across to the minister through the window of his car, before deciding to let him past (and avoid getting nicked).

The action was organised the day before, didn't need many people and was really effective (and funny!). More to come, I'm sure...

CAMBRIDGE PROTESTORS MOON WAR MINISTER AND BLOCK HIS CAR

Spontaneous anti-war actions continued to roll out across Cambridge this evening. Junior Defence Minister Adam Ingram arrived at Alex Wood Hall, Norfolk Street, at 8pm to speak to local Labour Party members in a bid to reassure them about the legitimacy of war after an alleged wave of party resignations. He was met with a mass of 'gagged' welcoming party in a protest called by Cambridge Students Against the War. Four protestors went further: Mr Ingram was faced with a row of bare bottoms bearing the slogans

"No to War" and "Ethical Foreign Policy, My Arse"

Protests continued while Mr Ingram addressed Labour Party members inside. After the meeting Mr Ingram found himself and his team unable to leave as their car was blocked for over 20 minutes by protestors sitting in the surrounding road. The strength of feeling amongst Cambridge students and residents throughout the evening left the minister with a clear message from Cambridge, newly-voted City of Peace: that a war would be immoral, illegal and inhuman.

Photos of the protest are available from  mhl24@cam.ac.uk

Notes for Editors: 1. CamSAW is a group currently campaigning against American and British plans to launch war against Iraq. We believe that such a war would be wholly unjustified and would be likely to have disastrous consequences both for the Iraqi people and for regional stability. We are working with many local and national groups who are opposed to this proposed war, and who have expertise in the humanitarian situation in Iraq. More information is available at  http://www.camsaw.org.uk

2. A growing online cyber-petition has been launched to allow members of the public to fulfil the 2001 Labour Party Manifesto Pledge that "change comes from the bottom up as much as the top down". 'Moon the Hoon' makes 'bottom-up' e-democracy a reality: petitioners show their contempt for UK defence policy by posting a message to Defence Minister Geoff Hoon, accompanied by a picture of them mooning! The site is at  http://www.srcf.ucam.org/pap/moon.index.htm

Arse to the war

"Ethical foreign policy, my arse!" is written on the sign

ingram flees the scene. not sure where anne campbell was at this point...

anger in the streets