Dublin march planned against occupation of Iraq

A national demonstration calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq and Palestine has been organised for Saturday, September…

A national demonstration calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq and Palestine has been organised for Saturday, September 27th.

There will be a march in Dublin starting at 2 p.m. from the Garden of Remembrance and finishing at Government Buildings after completing a route through the city centre.

The march has been organised by the same groups - the Irish anti-war movement, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance and the Alliance of Non government Organisations - that held marches protesting against a war on Iraq last February.

Chairman of the Irish anti-war movement, Mr Richard Boyd-Barrett said that the response of the US to the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the so-called "war on terror" has resulted two tragedies in Iraq and Afghanistan that are "greater in scale" than the attacks on the US.

READ MORE

"In Iraq over 7,000 civilians have died as a result of the US/UK attacks and dozens continue to die every day.

"It is hardly surprising that even the relatives of September 11th have called on Bush not to exploit their grief for political ends nd will today hold commemorations for the victims of September 11th and Afghanistan and Iraq," said Mr Boyd-Barret.

The groups are calling for an end to the US and British presence in Iraq and to put pressure on the US to stop "its uncritical support of an Israeli state that is engaged in an illegal, immoral and brutal occupation of Palestinian land.

According to Mr Boyd-Barret, similar marches have been organised in about dozen European cities and in some American cities.

He said that the UK demonstrations were expected to attract a crowd of 250,000 while in Ireland he estimated the turnout in "the thousands".