Bush effigy toppled at anti-war protest

THOUSANDS of anti-war protesters cheered last night as an effigy of President George W Bush was toppled as part of a huge demonstration against his controversial visit to Britain.

As Mr Bush was entertained in Buckingham Palace, a few hundred yards away in London’s Trafalgar Square a papier-mâché statue was dragged to the ground, sending a stark message from people opposed to the war in Iraq.

The Stop The War Coalition (STWC) said up to 200,000 people joined the protest, making it the biggest weekday demonstration ever held in this country.

Schoolchildren, students, pensioners and workers were joining the start of the march near Euston Station more than three hours after it set off.

Marchers carried banners accusing Mr Bush of being a war criminal, while others blew whistles and horns, chanting anti-war slogans.

Scotland Yard estimated the numbers on the march at 110,000, although this was hotly disputed by the organisers.

The number of arrests over the past two days grew to 50 by last night, with offences ranging from criminal damage to theft.

The effigy, which portrayed the president holding a missile and with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his pocket, was paraded at the head of the march before being erected in Trafalgar Square.

A group of protesters pulled down the statue in an echo of the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad towards the end of the original campaign.

The president was kept well away from the demonstrators, leaving 10 Downing Street with Mr Blair just minutes before the marchers walked down Whitehall.

The two men, accompanied by their wives, left Downing Street by a rear entrance and were driven to Buckingham Palace “We think it is very funny that the president scurried out of the back door as a massive demonstration was passing ,” said a STWC spokesman.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter said: “We’ve had a very good- tempered march, and there have been no particular problems.”

A total of 5,123 officers policed the route and Mr Trotter said the force was still on high alert because of a possible terrorist threat. Caroline Lucas, of the Green Party, brought a huge cheer from the crowd as she declared the demonstration was the biggest ever held in London on a weekday. “Our prime minister is an ally of George Bush but the British people are not. Climate change is a weapon of mass destruction too.”