Protesters against bombing Syrua occupied the road in Whitehall, blocking traffic (Pic: Guy Smallman)
Up to 1,000 people blocked
The Stop the War Coalition (STW) called the protest at short notice once the British and US governments looked set for an immediate attack
The British parliament has been recalled for today, Thursday, to discuss an attack. The degree of hostility to intervention is so high that Cameron has had to retreat from voting on an immediate attack.
Obi, a student from
Front bench Labour MP Diane Abbott addressed the crowd, saying she wanted to put it “beyond doubt” that she would vote against an attack.
Stop the War chair Jeremy Corbyn MP also spoke. Other speakers included Steve Hedley from RMT the transport union—who called for civil disobedience—and Mark Campbell, chair of Kurdish Federation in
Some tension was caused when a small group of protesters began actively shouting support for dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Support for Assad annoyed Syrian protester Sana Al Awabdh, who told Socialist Worker, “We’ve had two years of foreign intervention already with
“But it was a revolution in the beginning and still is a revolution because many of the Free Syrian Army fighters just want freedom.”
Saturday 31 August, assemble 12 noon,
Called by Stop the War and CND. stopwar.org.uk
The protest against Britain bombing Syria last night (Pic: Guy Smallman)