Big anti-Syria war demonstration in London

Anti-Syria war demonstrators, London, 16 April 2018

By Marcus Barnett and Lamiat Sabin in London, England, Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

Anti-war protesters urge returning MPs to stop bombing Syria

THOUSANDS of anti-war demonstrators greeted politicians returning to Parliament this evening by urging them to stop bombing Syria.

Assembling on Parliament Square, protesters mobilised at 72 hours’ notice for the demonstration to oppose US-led forces attacking Syria.

The action, which was organised by the Stop the War Coalition (StWC), followed a weekend of emergency demonstrations held across more than 30 different cities in Britain, following the announcement that British forces were launching military attacks in Syria.

The crowd expressed rage that the government had acted without the authorisation of Parliament, with demonstrators accusing PM Theresa May of bypassing the vote for fear of handing a massive political victory to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn if the vote was to fall.

Ray Mercer, a retired aerospace worker, told the Star: “The fact Trump and May started bombing Syria the morning chemical weapons inspectors were arriving in the country tells you all you need to know.

“After the disaster in Iraq, have we learnt nothing?

“We need international pressure and negotiations, not Western interference pretending to be humanitarian.”

Meanwhile, speakers from the labour and anti-war movements pointed out that merely 22 per cent of the population support war with Syria, and that a YouGov poll conducted this weekend saying that only 36 per cent of the population have backed Ms May on her latest action.

This sentiment was echoed by Labour MPs Richard Burgon, Emma Dent-Coad, Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Chris Williamson, alongside war veteran Ben Griffin and peace activist Bruce Kent.

Large numbers of protesters also amassed up and down the country, in Exeter and Bristol, following StWC’s call to expand the level of opposition to the government “from Orkney to the Isle of Wight.”

Daisy Carter, a Young Labour and Momentum activist helping to organise the Bristol rally, told the Star that the recent action in Syria was “inseparable” from the “long history of Western aggression” in the region.

“I feel that the most important emphasis the British people can make is to call for an end to British bombs falling across the world.”

Ms May faced angry Labour MPs in Parliament today after giving a statement to the Commons about the air strikes.

Mr Corbyn accused the PM of intervening in the Syrian civil war on a “whim” days before Parliament was recalled so that she could avoid scrutiny.

This video from England says about itself:

Bristol Protest March Against Bombing of Syria 16/04/2018

16 April 2018

Bristol Stop The War Coalition brought the centre of Bristol to a standstill during rush hour in protest against the airstrikes on Syria.

CHANTING “Hands off Syria!” and carrying signs denouncing President Donald Trump’s bombing there, hundreds of people massed in front of the White House on Saturday to oppose the Trump-ordered destruction of what he said — and they doubted — were Syrian chemical warfare facilities. Tens of thousands of people joined similar protests nationwide and in other cities around the world. The DC demonstration was one of more than 40 organised by anti-war and anti-Trump groups in the US: here.

Enschede, the Netherlands, 14 April 2016: demonstration against Trump’s/May’s bombs, organised by Syrian refugees and others.

In the days since the US and NATO launched over 100 missiles at the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs, it is clear that the imperialist powers have not been sated by the latest bloodletting. Within hours of the strikes, US and European newspapers began pumping out editorials demanding a further escalation of the war for regime-change in Syria: here.