Democracy Village Eviction, London - Pictures

On the morning after the Democracy Village anti-war campaign is evicted by private bailiffs from the grass at Parliament Square, anti-war campaigners gather on the pavement to assess the success of the campaign and to vow to continue to remain in the Square to press upon the British Government the case for withdrawal of British military forces from Afghanistan and the continuing occupation of the country.

The campaigners have been resident in Parliament Square since May 1st 2010 when they took the Square under cover of the annual Mayday demonstration.

The campaign comes to a temporary halt on the day the Kabul Conference on Afghanistan takes place attended by senior political leaders from Afghanistan and the coalition nations. The conference assembles in an attempt to shore up the occupation in the face of collapsing public support and serious violence taking place in the country.

Over the past week, serious and chronic violence has been seen all over Afghanistan with the beheading of six Afghani police officers in the previously calm northern province of Baghlan and a coalition death toll among US and British forces now standing at its highest since the occupation began in late 2002.

As the occupation begins the process of strategic collapse, tribal dependencies are becoming evident as senior Karzai figures abandon the puppet Government and begin to seek out post-occupation loyalties with the effective defection of a senior intelligence official from the Karzai Government.

As the maneuvering takes place, a new stage in the occupation presents itself, the appearance of the prospect that the people of the US and UK, have inadvertently funded, equipped and armed a new era of regional tribal violence in Afghanistan.

London, UK. 20/07/2010.


Six Afghan police officers beheaded by Taliban militants, (London Telegraph, Friday 23rd July 2010.)
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7903136/Six-Afghan-police-officers-beheaded-by-Taliban-militants.html

Minority leaders leaving Karzai's side over leader's overtures to insurgents. (Washington Post, Friday July 23rd 2010.)
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072206155.html