TUESDAY NOVEMBER 9

EDINBURGH PROTEST AGAINST ASSAULT ON FALLUJAH

A demonstration was held in Edinburgh on Tuesday evening against the attack on Fallujah with 100 or so taking part. The crowd gathered at West Parliament Square off the Royal Mile at 5pm and listened to several speakers before marching on the Scottish Parliament at 5.30. The police presence of around 40 officers including 4 on horseback was surprisingly heavy. Points made were that the tactics used by the US military strongly resembled those of the Israeli army. Mick Napier of Edinburgh Stop the War reminded the crowd of the disgusting abuse of Arabs at Abu Ghraib prison which now seems to have left the news. He asked why we never see the photos of the terrible effects of the injuries to Scottish soldiers. He spoke of the illegality of the war, which was condemned by Kofi Annan. He called for Bush and Blair to be brought before a war crimes tribunal. Carol Abudaib, who lived in Iraq for many years, spoke of the horrors of Depleted uranium which has led to Iraq having the toxicity of 400,000 Nagasaki bombs. DU causes cancers and horrific birth defects. She urged people to look up DU on the Internet. Kevin Williamson of the Scottish Socialist party said that while a week is a long time in politics it took George Bush just 5 days after his election to start the attack on Fallujah. He told the crowd to loud applause of the actions of 4 activists at the US consul in Edinburgh who sprayed red paint saying `Stop the attacks on Iraq` on the walls. He called for a boycott of US multinationals.
There was a message of support from the independent MSP for Falkirk West Dennis Canavan.
Then the march went down the Royal Mile carrying placards and candles. The heavy police presence prevented the march walking down the road; instead it filed along the pavements pausing briefly on the intersection of the High Street with the Bridges to wave placards at passing traffic. Meeting up outside the new Scottish Parliament building there were loud and sustained chants of “Troops out now!” and “Troops out! No War!” The chanting continued for some time with the police conspicuous by their presence and the Scottish MSPs by their absence.
Ian Hood of Edinburgh Stop the War asked where the MSPs (Member of Scottish Parliament) were and said that 75 % of British people were against the war. He spoke of the horrific civilian casualties and how media defence correspondents would prattle on about smart bombs and sophisticated military hardware while disregarding civilian casualties.
Hassan from Egypt spoke of the horrific consequences of the bombing and Bill Scott of the SSP made the point that most Scottish soldiers are economic conscripts. He said: “We must stop the killing in Fallujah.”
It was announced that 350 people had protested in Glasgow that day and that there would be an All Scotland demo in George Square, Glasgow on Saturday 13th at 11.30am.
Several speakers from the crowd made brief points and the demo broke up around 7.00pm.