London Protesters Call for End to War

Chanting slogans and waving banners, thousands of protesters marched across London on Sunday calling for an end to the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan.

Demonstrators of all ages, religions and backgrounds chanted, “Bush, Blair, CIA, how many kids have you killed today?” and waved placards urging “Stop the War” and “Not in My Name.”

The Stop the War Coalition estimated that 100,000 people attended the march, which they said was the biggest of its kind since the Vietnam War three decades ago.

“This is absolutely massive. We’ve never had such a variety of people coming together with one voice. This really shows that people do not support the bombing,” Stop the War spokesman Mike Marqusee said.

But police said there were 15,000 people at the march, which snaked through London from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, where anti-war campaigners such as Bianca Jagger and former Labor politician Tony Benn spoke to a cheering, whistling crowd.

Benn said people should be putting pressure on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington’s main ally in the fight against terrorism, to end the bombing, which he said was killing thousands of innocent people.

A similar demonstration in October attracted 20,000 people according to police and 50,000 people according to organizers.

Witnesses said there were larger numbers of people at Sunday’s march, where the carnival atmosphere provided some warmth on a cold, gray day.

An hour after the first protesters ended their march, members of trade unions, socialist and anti-war groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and pro-Palestinian organizations piled into Trafalgar Square.

Protesters said despite the fact the U.S.-led coalition appeared to have the upper hand in the fight against the Taliban, there were growing numbers of people opposed to the war in central Asia.

“This turnout is amazing,” said Sue Jones of the anti-capitalist group Globalise Resistance.