Picket of Jack Straw

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Picket of Jack Straw

Hundreds of Thousands of Iranians Take Part in Anti-US Rallies

Thousands upon Thousands March in Genoa to Commemorate Carlo

Jack Straw will be holding a reception for senior Muslim Peers and community leaders this Wednesday, July 24, at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, Whitehall, London. He is likely to be trying to get their support for an attack on Iraq. The Stop the War Coalition describes this as a PR stunt aimed at giving the appearance that the government listens to the concerns of the communities they represent, whilst actually it is preparing for all out war against Iraq.

The picket is called by the Mariam Appeal and supported by the Stop the War Coalition and Voices in the Wilderness. The organisers are calling on everyone to join the picket to show opposition to the British government's warmongering and disregard for the concerns and opinions of the majority of people in this country.

Picket – Jack Straw – 6pm,

Wednesday 24th July,

Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street

"Don't Attack Iraq!"

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians from all walks of life took part in anti-US mass rallies across the country on Friday, July 19.

The streets were packed with demonstrators – young and elderly, men and women, as well as children – shouting, "Death to America! Death to George Bush!" The demonstrators, carrying the Iranian flag, also shouted anti-Israeli slogans. The US flag and Bush's effigy had been set ablaze in the rallies.

The anti-US demonstrations were in response to Bush's written statement on July 12, which called for removal of existing obstacles hindering reforms in Iran.

Bush's statements drew strong condemnations from many Iranian dignitaries, including Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, President Mohammad Khatami, Ayatollah Rafsanjani as well as political parties and organisations.

The rallies in the capital culminated at Tehran University, where weekly Friday prayers were held under the leadership of the Chairman of the Consultative Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Senior state and military officials, parliamentarians, war veterans, teachers, students and state employees took part in the demonstrations.

"Your unsparing presence in the rallies in millions, under the burning sun, proved to the world that the great Iranian nation will not retreat from the path along which it has gone," state television quoted Khamenei as saying to the demonstrators.

In a six-point resolution issued at the conclusion of the anti-US rallies, participants said that the Iranians would never come into terms with the United States even for a single moment, as the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Mussavi Khomeini said.

The resolution described the "war-monger" Unites States as factor of instability and tension in the world and the US rulers as the biggest supporters of global terrorism, the "illegitimate regime of Israel" in particular.

The resolution voiced support for the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation of their territories.

The resolution demanded that the United States stop its interventionist policies and make an apology to the Iranian nation. The Iranian nation persists on the continuation of independence, freedom, and favours democracy and reforms within the framework of the nation's constitution, the resolution said.

The resolution also voiced full readiness of the nation to stand against possible aggressions by the United States.

Khamenei said on Wednesday that Bush's statements about Iran are a repetition of the big mistakes made by the United States in the past. Khamenei said that the US president's latest remark is a lesson for the Iranian nation to see how the enemies are seeking an opportunity to regain their dominance over Iran and take revenge on the Iranian nation for their national resolve to attain independence and not to yield to the big powers.

The Supreme Leader said that the United States was attempting to sow discord between political parties. "America on one hand, has spread the shadow of war and death in the region, threatening officially to overthrow the people and government of Iran and cries out democracy and people's right to elections, freedoms and progress on the other," said Supreme Leader Khamenei.

He also dismissed talk among Iranian reformists that Tehran had missed a chance to open talks while former US President Bill Clinton was in office. "All factions ruling the United States in the past 10 years have shared the common goal of dominating Iran though they have been following up on their objective by genocide at one time and peace-seeking and human rights at other times," he said.

Around 100,000 people took to the streets of Genoa on Saturday to remember Carlo Giuliani, shot dead by police one year ago in the Genoa anti-G8 protests.

The square where he was killed was full to bursting and people applauded at length after speeches by Guiliani's parents, Giuliano and Heidi, and his sister, Elena and others, at the exact time that he was shot. At the same time, dozens of balloons were released.

"Carlo is in our heart, anger is in our veins," said one the banners.

The main march left 30 minutes later from Alimonda Square.

Police said around 100,000 people turned out for the march. Organisers had expected between 30,000 and 40,000.

The Genoa march was aimed at serving as a reminder of the brutality of Italian anti-riot forces and to shed light on the inconclusive results of official inquiries into Giuliani's death, organisers said.

Some 200 protesters on Friday night occupied the school where anti-G8 participants had lodged last year and where police had made a brutal raid. They left without incident Saturday morning.

Local police are being backed up by 3,000 extra officers for Saturday's demonstrations.

Defiant fists were raised outside the Italian Embassy in London on Friday by the victims of the Diaz raid in Genoa last year. The picket attracted activists from different strands of the movement who came to support the ongoing campaign for justice and to remember Carlo Giuliani. There were short speeches from the Genoa Justice Campaign, Refondaziona Comunista and an Indymedia Centre activist who gave an update on the situation in Genoa now. The picket ended with a minute's silence for Carlo.