PRESS RELEASE
Friday 31 March 2006
Contact: 0845 458 2564 or 07791 486484

ORGANISERS RISK PRISON FOR ANTI-OCCUPATION DEMO IN PROTEST EXCLUSION ZONE
Names and faces of 150 Iraqis killed by US/UK military to be brought to Parliament Square.

SUNDAY 2 APRIL, from 12 noon, PARLIAMENT SQUARE

Five anti-war campaigners [A] are risking a year in prison this Sunday for their role in organising a demonstration demanding an end to the US/UK military occupation of Iraq. Hundreds more will be risking arrest and a possible £1000 fine for participating in the "unauthorised" reading of the names of 1000 Iraqis who have died as a result of the last three years of war and occupation [B].

The event will be the first mass act of civil disobedience against the occupation in the UK since the 2003 invasion and will be taking place on the 2nd anniversary of the April 2004 US assault on Fallujah, in which at least 572 civilians were killed [C].

The names and faces of over 150 Iraqis who have been killed by US/UK military action in Iraq will be exhibited in the Square, alongside giant puppets of Iraqi men and women and a massive detail from Picasso’s famous painting Guernica.

The reading of names will be interspersed with testimonies from those who know people killed in Iraq. The whole event is scheduled to take 4 hours.

In a letter published in today’s Guardian and Independent [D], world famous playwright Harold Pinter, Green MEP Caroline Lucas and Iraqi writer and poet Haifa Zangana have urged people to join Sunday’s demonstration - which is also supported by a wide range of groups, including Pax Christi, Code Pink UK and the London Catholic Worker.

Among those risking arrest will be:

* Jenny Jones, the Green Party Member of the London Assembly and Member of the Metropolitan Police Authority

and

* Jo Wilding, an activist and writer who was present in Fallujah during the April 2004, where she was a eyewitness to US war crimes [E].

One of the organisers Maya Evans (26) - who recently became the first person to be convicted under SOCPA and now risks 51 weeks in prison for her role in organising Sunday's event - said, 'Three years of war and occupation have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and
pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war. We are putting names and faces on some of those who have died, and calling for an end to the US/UK military occupation of Iraq.' [F]

FOR MORE INFO OR TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW CONTACT 0845 458 2564 or 07791
486484.

See www.voices.netuxo.co.uk/namingthedead.htm

[A] The names of the five are: Mark Barrett, Gabriel Carlyle, Maya Evans, Martin Newell and Jonathan Stevenson.

[B] Under section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (April 2005) organising an “unauthorised” demonstration within 1km of Parliament is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment for up to 51 weeks and a £2500 fine. Participating in such a demonstration is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £1000.
For more info. see www.parliamentprotest.org.uk

[C] Figure based on an analysis of 300 contemporary news reports. See www.iraqbodycount.org/press/archive.php#pr9. Over 300 of these deaths were women and children. During the siege fighter bombers were used to attack residential areas, US snipers targeted ambulances and at least one US battalion had 'orders to shoot any male of military age on the streets after dark, armed or not' (New York Times, 14 April).

[D] See ‘Marking Fallujah’s Grim Anniversary’, 31 March ( http://tinyurl.com/mz47y)

[E] Jo Wilding's widely-read web-log account of her time in Fallujah the latter ( http://tinyurl.com/3fygm) was later anthologised in John Pilger's book "Tell Me No Lies." In a review of the latter for the Guardian, Roy Greenslade wrote: "[Jo Wilding] deserves a special mention ... Her description of life inside Falluja is immediate, painful and so full of detail it demands to be read and believed."

[F] See 'MPs condemn arrest of woman who spoke out' (Daily Mail, 9 December 05) and 'Acts of defiance against war turned ordinary people into criminals' (Independent, 8 December 05).

Also see  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/03/336804.html