2,000 in Dublin join worldwide anti-war protests

AROUND 2,000 anti-war protesters turned out in Dublin on Saturday as part of a worldwide demonstration against the presence of coalition forces in Iraq.

The Irish anti-war movement hailed the protest a success, but said it was disappointing that numbers did not match the 100,000 who turned out to protest in the city before the US-led invasion in 2003.

Chairman Richard Boyd-Barrett blamed “a huge wave of propaganda” which had convinced some people that the invasion had been justified by the recent elections in Iraq.

“The claim the US are sponsoring democracy in the Middle East is a terrible lie,” he said. He said the march was designed to remind the US that the violence in Iraq would continue until the 140,000 troops left.

The march was led by six women from the NGO Peace Alliance, followed by 10 protesters dressed in Guantanamo Bay-style orange jumpsuits. It left Parnell Square at around 2.30pm and weaved through the city’s main streets en route to the Dáil.

Roads were closed to traffic and the Garda Siochána helicopter hovered overhead as marchers paused outside the Irish Times office on D’Olier St to protest at the newspaper’s use of the columnist Mark Stein.

“We’d like the Irish Times to sack Mark Stein,” Dave Lordan of the Socialist Workers Party said, explaining the protesters strongly disagreed with Mr Stein’s columns in favour of US President George Bush.

Peace Alliance spokesman Brendan Butler said the marchers were demanding an end of the use of Shannon Airport by US troops on their way to Iraq.

“We get money from the US government every time a US warplane lands in Shannon and every time US soldiers go in and buy duty free. It is blood money,” he said.

The protesters joined thousands of others across Europe and the US to mark the second anniversary of the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

“George Bush, Uncle Sam, Iraq will be your Vietnam,” chanted 45,000 protesters in central London as they put down a black cardboard coffin with the slogan “100,000 dead” scrawled on the lid outside the US Embassy.

Some 10,000 people marched through the centre of Rome, waving anti-war banners and thousands more demonstrated in Madrid, Barcelona and Istanbul.

In New York and in cities across America thousands more held rallies in opposition to President George Bush’s stance on Iraq.

However, in his weekly radio address the American President made an uncompromising defence of the invasion: “On this day two years ago, we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom to disarm a brutal regime, free its people, and defend the world from a grave danger,” he said.

“Today we’re seeing hopeful signs across the broader Middle East. The victory of freedom in Iraq is strengthening a new ally in the war on terror and inspiring democratic reformers from Beirut to Tehran,” he said.