Demonstrators Stage Sit-Down Protest against the "War on Terrorism"

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Demonstrators Stage Sit-Down Protest against the "War on Terrorism"

Protests Against US Aggression
Turkey
Yugoslavia

Thousands Join Anti-Nuclear Protests in France

For Your Information:
European Leaders on Follow-Up to the September 11 Attacks and the "Fight against Terrorism"

Opinion:
People Must Not Be Victims of Atrocious War

Around 500 people took part in a "civil disobedience mass sit-down" in Whitehall, London on Sunday to protest against military action in Afghanistan. This was called by ARROW in co-operation with the Green Party, CND, Pax Christi and Campaign Against The Arms Trade under the slogan: Justice Not Vengeance. The sit-down protest took place despite torrential rain and cold weather.

As the demonstrators marched down Whitehall it became clear that the police had put barriers across the road penning the protesters towards the pavement, and so the sit-down occurred some two or three hundred yards short of Downing Street. The weather conditions remained atrocious, and yet around 60 people sat in the road while the other demonstrators gave support. Police were "inviting" people to carry on with the march, but there was absolute solidarity and people remained where they were. Police diverted south-bound traffic and then indicated that they intended to open up the road enough for one line of traffic to pass and that anyone hindering this would be liable for arrest. However, despite a couple of attempts to pick people up and move them, everyone "sat" their ground, and the police backed off. Formal speeches took place, interspersed with open mike comments.

Votes were taken as to the further progress of the sit-down and it was agreed after an hour to continue for a further half hour. The police joined in one of the votes by putting their hands up in favour of finishing the action, but it was pointed out that they only could vote if they joined the sit-down!

It was agreed then that all should walk together towards the cenotaph, where three people laid all the white flowers that protesters had brought. After another minute of silence for the victims in New York and the victims in Afghanistan the demonstrators dispersed.

Justice Not Vengeance spokesman Robin Oakley said: "The fact that people are prepared to risk arrest by obstructing traffic shows the strength of feeling."

Protest organiser Gabriel Carlyle said: "Unless the bombing stops and a massive aid effort is launched immediately thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of people will certainly die."

The weekend of October 13/14 witnessed important demonstrations in Turkey protesting against both US aggression and the Turkish government’s collaborationist policies.

Protests were held in Istanbul and Adana on Sunday, October 14, against the aggressive attacks of the US and the collaborationist pro-war policies of the Ecevit government. Anti-war demonstrations were organised in the four major cities of Turkey: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Adana. The government banned these rallies, whereupon demonstrations were organised on October 13 and 14 to protest against both the banning of the rallies and the war.

The police brutally attacked the demonstration held in Istanbul and took 44 people into custody. The most frequently shouted slogans of the march were: "No to War", "Down with US Imperialism", "Budget for Education, Not for War", "No to War; Work, Bread, Equality and Freedom", "No to Poverty and Hunger".

Yugoslavia

On October 19, in front of the US embassy in Belgrade, a demonstration was held to protest against imperialist aggression against Afghanistan. The protest was held despite it being banned three hours before it was due to commence.

Protesters burned the American flag before five of them were arrested by the police. They were released after four hours after being charged, among other things, with disrespecting the symbols of foreign countries.

Thousands of anti-nuclear protesters demonstrated across France on Saturday, October 20.

According to police estimates, 2,500 protesters marched through Toulouse, shouting anti-nuclear slogans and carrying banners demanding the abolition of France's nuclear power and defence industries. There are 19 nuclear plants in France.

"The fact that we are several thousand in the streets of Toulouse, and elsewhere in France, proves that the French people are truly frightened of nuclear energy," said Andre Crouzet, head of the "Let's Get Out of the Nuclear Age" Association. Activists pointed to the September explosion at a Toulouse petrochemicals plant, which killed 29 people and injured thousands, as an example of how easily accidents can happen.

At least 3,000 people demonstrated in Lyon in the south-east, while slightly smaller protests took place at Colmar in the north-east, Lille in the north and Nantes in the south-west.

Green Party leader Dominique Voynet said in Lyon: "We are not condemned for life eternal to be the most nuclearised country in the world, the country which exports low-price electricity to its neighbours while keeping the nuclear waste."

Joining demonstrators in Lille, Noel Mamere – currently the front-runner Green candidate for France's April presidential elections – called on the government to reduce nuclear power, pointing to German plans to phase out nuclear energy by the early 2020s. Belgium and Sweden have also opted to get rid of nuclear power stations.

On Friday, the French government said it had deployed ground-to-air missiles near a nuclear waste reprocessing plant at La Hague in northern France as a precaution following the hijack attacks on US landmarks, and has increased security around all the nuclear plants. Defence Minister Alain Richard said that France was prepared to use warplanes to shoot down hijacked planes. Putting missile batteries in place was a complementary measure, he said.

Earlier this month, anti-nuclear protesters met rail shipments of waste from German nuclear plants to the La Hague reprocessing site – the first atomic waste to arrive from Germany since the attacks on New York and Washington. Some 50 anti-nuclear campaigners gathered near Strasbourg, saying it was irresponsible to transport nuclear waste at a time of possible risk of attacks.

A statement at the end of the European Council meeting in Ghent, Brussels, on October 19, spoke of the "staunchest support" for the military operations which began on October 7. It said the objective remained the elimination of the al-Qaida organisation. But they also watered down an original planned summit declaration which spoke of the eradication of the Taleban regime as a "legitimate objective" in the campaign.

The EU leaders, in focusing on the future, said they would work with the United Nations towards the creation of a "stable, legitimate and representative government for the whole of the Afghan people, one which respects human rights and develops good relations with all the neighbouring countries". The declaration, however, spoke of "total solidarity" with the United States, and "unequivocal" support for the action being taken.

The EU leaders gave a commitment to agree sweeping new European laws against terrorism at European Council meeting on Justice and Home Affairs on December 6 and 7 in Brussels, when they intend to complete negotiations on an EU-wide arrest warrant. On the same date, they will complete a deal on the freezing of assets of individuals and organisations that are purported to have supported the terrorist attacks, as well as reach a common definition of terrorist offences. They reaffirmed "increased co-operation between the operational services responsible for combating terrorism: Europol, Eurojust, the intelligence services, police forces and judicial authorities. Such co-operation should in particular enable a list of terrorist organisations to be drawn up by the end of the year."

There will be swift action on three other fronts – improved cross-border police co-operation, the crackdown on terrorist funding and money-laundering, and tougher airline security measures.

And the declaration said increasing current humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and the neighbouring countries – standing at nearly £200 million so far from the 15 member states – is an "absolute priority".

Another paragraph of the declaration examined the concrete proposals for co-operation which the US authorities made following the meeting on 27 September 2001 between the President of the European Council and the President of the United States. The leaders said that the EU is prepared to engage with the United States in reciprocal initiatives such as mutual judicial assistance, control of arms and chemical, bacteriological and nuclear substances, and the fight against false and forged passports and visas.

The European Council emphasised the need to relaunch the Middle East peace process without any pre-conditions. It said that resolutions 242 and 338 must remain the foundation for a political settlement, based on the establishment of a Palestinian state and the right of Israel to live in peace and security. Such a settlement is necessarily conditional upon the cessation of violence and recognition of the principle of two states.

Finally, the Council declaration said: "To avoid any equating of terrorism with the Arab and Muslim world, the European Council considers it essential to encourage a dialogue of equals between our civilisations, particularly in the framework of the Barcelona process but also by means of an active policy of cultural exchange. The Union invites those responsible in the Member States to give concrete priority to the dialogue between cultures both at international level and within their societies."

Following the Summit, EU leaders held a European Conference on Saturday, October 20, in Brussels, devoted to the "fight against terrorism". The format was that of an "enlarged" European Conference, involving, in addition to the associated countries, participation by the EFTA countries and other European countries. The Russian Federation, Ukraine and Moldova were also invited on an ad-hoc basis. Its resolutions followed much the same pattern as the European Council declaration.

The following is taken from Nhan Dan, Central Organ of the Communist Party of Vietnam

The past 10 days of the joint US-British Operation "Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan in retaliation against the September 11^th terrorist attacks in the US as declared by the US, has resulted in massive bomb craters, deafening noise of warplanes and cruise missiles, and most of all devastating destruction and casualties. One week ago, the US Pentagon witnessed a function in memory of victims of the tragedy, which was attended by President George W. Bush, government members, Congressmen and 20,000 people. Civilised mankind sympathised and shared the sorrow with the American people and people around the globe who have been subject to or are being threatened by terrorism. People cherish an aspiration to eliminate terrorism from their peaceful life, and join hands with all forces under the UN banner, to fight terrorism in the strictest sense of the word.

However, peace-loving people are worrying about an atrocious war, which is being inflicted upon the Afghan people and likely to escalate to other nations. It should be recalled that during a televised address, President Bush said the US military operations would only target bases and establishments of Bin Laden and the Taleban regime, but not ordinary Afghan people. His audiences, especially the Americans who are longing for due punishment of the culprits, seem to have ground to believe in his statement. They reckon the US and its allies, who possess a huge arsenal of sophisticated weapons and war munitions using hi-tech advances capable of causing mass destruction at war, and supported by a widespread and modern network of intelligence and reconnaissance facilities, would have no difficulty in striking the right targets. Alongside with bombarding the impoverished, war-ravaged country, the US dropped "gifts" of 37,500 packages of food and medicine rations, in a hope, as foreign media cited, to incite a riot to topple the Taleban regime by the Afghan people themselves. The US President also lessened the air raids last Friday on grounds that it was the Muslim Sabbath, while awaiting a reply for his second ultimatum for the Taleban to hand over Bin Laden. Realities are different from what the US thought and did. During more than a week of US assaults in Afghanistan, terrorist threats were not wiped out, but instead loomed large in other parts of the world, even inside the US. Air raids intensified but the expected US targets could hardly be hit overnight. The entire war machinery is gearing up for more atrocity. Along with the "Post Taleban" scenario, the US is getting things ready for helicopter and ground troop attacks, turning its armed retaliation into war escalation against a country, a nation. On the day of launching the military operation targeting Taleban military bases and terrorist training camps of Bin Laden’s Al Qaida organisation, the US sent a document to the UN Security Council reserving for the US the right to attack other countries outside Afghanistan and the right for the US to use force anywhere in the world. Obviously, the war escalation is not confined to the Taleban and Bin Laden, but is spreading to the Afghans and people elsewhere.

Right from the first day of US and British air raids, it was not the Taleban nor Bin Laden but civilians that were exposed to bombs and shells. The Afghan people’s death toll is rising fast as a result of intensifying bombardments, disease, poverty and evacuation. Three hundred civilians have been killed, thousands of others wounded and millions rendered homeless following the week-long continual bombardments in Kabul, several other cities and villages. The death toll and casualties will rise along with military escalation.

The world public is extremely worried by the complicated escalation of the war in Afghanistan, which is deviating from retaliatory military operations against terrorism. Sober-minded people hold that the tragedies of terrorism can not be rooted out by the tragedies of war. People everywhere, including in the USA and Afghanistan must not bear the brunt of such disasters.

As soon as the US and UK launched their attacks on Afghanistan, peace groups in the USA held prayer services and meetings to demand diplomatic and other legitimate measures to replace war means. Anti-war movements broke out not only in Islamic and Arab nations, Afghanistan’s neighbours and European countries, but also even spread to close US allies. The movement for peace and more effective ways of fighting terrorism is winning people’s hearts and minds and spreading far and near. The past two days saw demonstrations by tens of thousands of people protesting war and demanding peace in Berlin, London, and many cities in Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Indonesia and several other places.

Vietnamese people suffered much during the war and therefore fully sympathise with the losses suffered by the Americans during the September 11^th attacks. But the Vietnamese people disagree with any atrocious war acts that inflict pain upon innocent people wherever they are and on whatever ground. Vietnam longs for a world of peace, friendship, co-operation and development, which is becoming a major trend of the contemporary world.