Stop Bush
Notes on the protest march against Bush's state visit - Nov 20 2003
There was party atmosphere in Trafalgar Square against the Bush War on Iraq.
The feeling by many is that Bush and Blair are out of control on their 'war
against terror'. Nonetheless, the size of the protests during the week did
effectively put Bush under house arrest in Buckingham Palace, because the
President could not make one public visit during his state visit here.
From Leicester around 160 people travelled to London for the largest
mid-week demonstration the City had seen (Police estimated 110,000 people
but march organisers STWC said it was nearer 200,000).
As the march passed Parliament and Downing Street the volume of boo's and
whistles increased. Later in Trafalgar Square, after the speeches, when it
was dark and under the spotlights, an 18-foot high effigy of President Bush
was pulled down in an ironic representation of Saddam Hussain's, when his
statue was pulled down in Baghdad.
It was a good humoured, peaceful and a well-organised march. Among the
"Stop Bush" posters, there were some that raised a smile - "Yankee doodle
and his poodle" and "Clinton lied but no one died!"
When the Leicester crowd left to come home at around 6.15 pm, thousands of
protestors were still streaming into Trafalgar Square. While it was judged a
successful day's march, it was a little muted by news of two more bombings
in Istanbul.
Bob Ball