Stop The War Coalition - Action After The War

Action After The War

The Coalition held a series of protests during November 2003 climaxing in a march on the 20th protesting against what it claimed is the aggressive foreign policy of U.S. President George W. Bush, and against the continued U.S. detention of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, which protesters claim is an illegal infringement of human rights and the Geneva conventions. A march past parliament was organised climaxing in a rally in Trafalgar Square. A papier-mâché statue of Bush was toppled in an action reminiscent of the much televised pulling down of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad by American soldiers. Speakers included MP George Galloway (then member of Labour Party now expelled and joined Respect), Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond and Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic.

The coalition estimates that 300,000 people were present at the demonstration, but this figure is disputed by the police estimate which put it as low as 100,000 people.

On 19 March 2005, StWC organised a large demonstration in Westminster with supporters marching from Hyde Park to Parliament Square via the US embassy. The supporters were calling for the invading troops to move out of Iraq, for the US to not attack Iran and Syria, for the UK government to halt reductions in the civil liberties of UK citizens including the right to protest and a free trial (which they allege would result from the recent Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 and Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005), and for a reduction in racism in the UK.

The date was chosen as the it was the international day of anti-war demonstrations, as called by the Assembly of the Social Movements at the 2004 European Social Forum. Estimates of the number of marchers vary from 45,000 by the police to over 100,000 by StWC to 200,000 by some observers. The protest was significant as it was the first time that a march had passed the US embassy in London since the protests over the Vietnam War. Later in 2005 StWC sought to join the Make Poverty History coalition of groups campaigning around the 31st G8 summit, held in July of that year, for an end to poverty, but was prevented from doing so, by the MPH Coordinating Team, on the grounds that the issues of economic justice and development are separate from that of war. Nevertheless they independently organised for the MPH demo in Edinburgh on 2 July and in some areas campaigners from MPH and StWC worked together on a local level. They also managed to negotiate a stage in the park at the end of the march. It has been speculated that they were prevented from joining the MPH coalition because organisers wanted to avoid radical criticism of the Labour government. Fellow anti-war group CND was allowed to join.