We decided to attend the anti war march in London because of our increasing concern over the war in Iraq and the killing of the innocent civilians there, in particular children. We thought the march would be about Iraq so were surprised to see others there with different agendas, some not at all in line with our views.

We were very concerned to hear some of the views by extreme Islamic groups who formed part of the contingent, we do not accept that an Iraq based on the Iranian version of Islam is the way forward, we do not feel that for example a ban on women voting is a helpful policy, to hear chanting of,
" All Jews out of Palestine" is unpleasant.


We have both worked in projects in the developing world where religious intolerence and fixed doctrine has done so much harm to women, children and those of other faiths and was a shame to see groups marching with us that exposed those same views. May we question if any consideration was given to who should be allowed to vote and what banners were to be flown ?

As a final comment the cause of peace in Iraq is not helped but what might be termed the "this week's theory" brigade. Waving banners that proclaim the 9-11 bombers were the CIA or that the London bomings were the work of the SAS is very damaging to the credibility of the wider support that was there. Of course many in the media pounced on these individuals and as such were able to portray the majority as "nutters".