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Hizb ut Tahrir march against Bush's Middle East Tour, London, 12 Jan, 2008

Peter Marshall | 14.01.2008 11:21 | Palestine | London | World

Supporters of Hizb ut Tahrir Britain gathered at Marble Arch on Saturday 12 Jan for a march to the Saudi Embassy in Mayfair to show their opposition to George Bush's Middle East tour and American policies on the Middle East, as well as to the current corrupt ruling elites in the area. Pictures are copyright, all rights reserved.

Listening to the speeches
Listening to the speeches

Women prepare to march
Women prepare to march

The front of the march in Park Lane
The front of the march in Park Lane


By the time the rally at Marble Arch began there were perhaps 500 people at Marble Arch, the women staying in one corner of the area while the men gathered in front of the microphone. Some had earlier said prayers in two corners of the square.

Despite the peaceful intent of the march, and its highly organised nature - at one point it seemed likely there would be more stewards than other marchers - there was a large police presence for the event at Marble Arch and along the route, which seemed unnecessary.

The speakers (much of the event was in English) denounced American plans for a two-state settlement of the Palestine-Israel problem, as well as their support for the corrupt regimes in the area which are supported by America - including Israel, various Arab states and Mahmoud Abbas. Hizb ut Tahrir beleives that the region can only truly be stable through the formation of a new united Islamic Khalifah for the whole region, which will bring both peace and harmony to the area with "Jews, Christians and Muslims and peoples of other religions" able to "live together in peace and dignity as they did in the Khilafah of the past."

After the speeches the march, now nearer a thousand strong, moved off down Park Lane towards the Saudi Embassy, led by the men, with the women together as a group behind them.

More pictures on 'My London Diary' shortly:  http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2008/01/jan.htm

Peter Marshall
- e-mail: petermarshall@cix.co.uk
- Homepage: http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2008/01/jan.htm

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Why no condemnation of this homophobic march

15.01.2008 10:21

My previous comment seems to have disappeared. Anyhows, I would restate that reports like this should not appear on IMC without a condemnation as Hizb ut Tahrir are a hierarchical political party, are extremely homophobic and promote islam - submission (slavery) to allah.

I can accept that these may not be the view of the report, peter marshall, however if such demos are reported on for IMC then surely they should be done with a critical view like the BNP/NF demos that have been reported on in the past. This should just past as part of our movement, because Hizb ut Tahrir are completely opposed to the ethics and politics of IMC and the anti-authoritarian movement which it is based upon.

cheers

a

anarchist


Couldn't agree more!

15.01.2008 19:38

... with the anarchist's comment above. I don't think Indymedia is a place for reports about racist, homophobic, authoritarian and fundamentalist religious organisations. Apart from the fact that Hizb ut Tahrir states to be against the 'war on terror' and the empire's occupation of countries such as Irak or Afganistan, for the rest, and as far as I can tell, they are completely at odds with most of the issues and struggles of the global movement(s) for social justice.

Taking into account the current eeditorial guidelines showing in IMC-UK's front page, imo this article should be hidden under the 'hierarchy' guideline.

m, one at imc-uk


Who is Hizb ut-Tahrir ?

16.01.2008 09:23

"In the Muslim world, Hizb ut-Tahrir works at all levels of society to bring the Muslims back to living an Islamic way of life under the shade of the Khilafah (Caliphate) State following an exclusively political method."

Theo Crazy
- Homepage: http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/who-is-ht.html


Why isn't this been hidden???

18.01.2008 14:26

HT are a bunch of vile homophobic, sexist, fundamentalist scum. They should be given no platform to air their disgusting views.

disgusted