Peace campaign gathers pace

PEACE campaigners are planning a series of vigils and demonstrations to coincide with attacks on Iraq if war goes ahead.

The Irish Anti-War Movement is to stage nightly gatherings in town centres on every day bombing is carried out, 10-minute work stoppages at noon the next day and mass rallies in the cities each Saturday following an attack.

Their call to the public to join them in continued opposition to war came after the weekend peace rally in Dublin which had a turn-out far exceeding the organisers’ expectations of a 20,000-strong crowd.

An estimated 100,000 people from all over the country took part, making it the biggest public protest in the capital since demonstrations against crippling taxation rates over 20 years ago.

The crowds filled the entire southbound carriage of O’Connell Street from the Parnell Square to O’Connell Bridge before they began walking and it took two and a half hours for the gathering to make their way along a circular route to Dame Street.

Large parts of the city centre were closed off all afternoon and there was serious traffic disruption but gardaí described the event as good-humoured and well-stewarded and there were no disturbances or arrests.

The march started at the Garden of Remembrance where the speakers included Bishop John Kirby of Trocaire and Labour Party TD Michael D Higgins.

A second platform had been erected at the top of Stephens Green close to the Department of Foreign Affairs where there were protest songs and further declarations of support by trade union activists, socialists and non-governmental organisations. At the corner of Stephens Green and Harcourt Street a group of Muslim men and boys answered the 4pm call to prayer by laying their coats on the ground and kneeling to pray for peace. The main speeches were made at the finish on Dame Street where confirmation of the scale of the turn-out was greeted with loud cheers.

SIPTU president Des Geraghty told the crowd the Government would now have to recognise that the mood of the people called for Ireland to play the role of peacemaker: “The first casualty of war is truth but the second casualty of this conflict will be the United Nations. It will be absolutely destroyed.”

Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna, who recently visited Iraq as part of a European Parliament fact-finding mission, held up photographs of ailing babies and children who she said were without proper nourishment and medical aid because of sanctions against the country.

Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral Robert McCarthy said the planned military action would not help human rights in Iraq, solve international terrorism or stop weapons of mass destruction.

Children of Chernobyl campaigner Adi Roche said it was wrong that the people of Iraq would be held accountable for the decisions of a “single demented leader”.

Denis Halliday, the Irish former director of the UN Food for Oil programme, who resigned in protest at the suffering of the Iraqi people, pleaded that Ireland’s economic

links with the US not be used to justify support for war.“Irish prosperity cannot be at the expense of Iraqi children,” said Mr Halliday.