Thousands in the UK protest war

The Metropolitan police had threatened to use legislation brought in to thwart the Chartists 170 years ago to block plans for a march by the Stop the War Coalition to Parliament Square. Organizers were told last week that the protest would not be allowed into the square under 19th-century sessional orders passed to protect the passage of members of Parliament and peers from radical mobs. However, less than an hour before the march was due to start, police said a compromise had been agreed allowing a march through Whitehall to Bridge Street in the shadow of the houses of parliament. The Met had previously planned to halt the march in Whitehall. Several thousand people were estimated to have joined the demonstration, timed to coincide with parliament's first day back after the summer recess and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's expected statement on Iraq. One of the organizers, Lindsey German, said the authorities and members of Parliament had underestimated the determination of the anti-war movement. She said her message to the government was that it would "never draw a line under this war until you bring all our troops home. And we don't want the troops brought home just so they can be sent to Afghanistan or the Iranian border. We want a permanent break with George Bush's murderous, imperialistic policies." Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, told the crowd: "This is a tribute to this movement and to everyone who has campaigned to assert our right to hold this government to account for the criminal policies it is following around the world." The Respect party member of Parliament, George Galloway, who is currently suspended from Commons after clashing with the speaker, said: "Gordon Brown might think that Basra is a photo opportunity but we know it is a graveyard for millions of innocent Iraqi civilians whose lives are being ruined by the criminal activity of the British parliament." The marchers included veteran activists such as the retired Labor member of Parliament Tony Benn, the musician Brian Eno and the Labor party member Walter Wolfgang.