Please someone put up some photos, because the funeral was visually really impressive and got a lot of attention from the public. There were about 200 of us and about 15 coffins carried, draped in black cloth, with wreaths of white flowers. The pallbearers wore white masks with the mouth of the mask covered in masking tape to symbolise the silence of the dead and the desire of the warmongers to silence the anti-war movement with the drip drip of their propaganda. We tried to show the people of Manchester the truth. Walking for two hours, around the city centre. The contrast of black and white, the silence of the procession walking slowly to the beat of drums, without placards or slogans, was dignified and sad. I carried a ‘coffin’, and although I knew the funeral was only as real as a stage set, the knowledge of what is happening to people in Iraq and the reality of death and grief that they are experiencing, made this demonstration more poignant to me than the usual slogans and placards which we had deliberately chosen not to carry. People carried pictures of dead Iraqi children and a memorial picture for Rachel who died in Palestine. At the back there was a big rainbow peace banner. I saw the majority of people outside the pubs, shopping etc, stopping and watching the ‘coffins’ come down the road, silently.

Tomorrow we are turning Albert Square into a garden (if we have enough people). Please come with flowers, especially red potted plants we can use to write ‘No War’, as huge as we can get it, across the square. We also need coloured chalks to write and draw on the walls and cobbles. We are having a PA for music. No big speeches.
We want too discuss with people what they want to do next in Manchester. Bring food to share, musical instruments (by the way, cheers to the drummers at the funeral today!), silly string, flags, banners, anything you can think of to make a peaceful space. Anti-their-war propaganda.