Over 5000 Newham residents took to the streets of the East London borough last Saturday to protest against their MP, Stephen Timms, and his support for the war. Newham has one of the largest Muslim communities in the country with a large Muslim presence on the march, but those from communities right across the borough turned out in force to voice their opposition.
When war was declared, hundreds and hundreds of Newham school students staged walkouts and militant protests - at one, flying pickets from one local school "liberated" students from another who had been locked in the playground by their teaching staff, whilst a heavy police presence was called in to prevent students leaving another school further down the road. Timms had angered many when it was alleged he stated that "As a Christian, I felt I had to support the war."
All this provided the background to the huge and lively march, the biggest in living memory in the borough. One protestor was arrested at the end, resulting in a significant confrontation with the police, whilst a stand-off ensued with racists in a nearby pub, but the march was overwhelmingly peaceful and orderly (perhaps excessively so). Cowardly Timms cancelled his surgery for the day, desperate to avoid explaining himself to those he is supposedly representing. Further anti-war activities are planned over the coming weeks - a mass die-in outside West Ham town hall in Stratford is on next Saturday (5 April) starting at 11am.