ICTU call of silent protest

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday March 16, 2003 19:45 by Noise maker - None I am not a sheep

ICTU call for silent protest? I say bollocks make as much noise as you can, and let the murdering bastards know, we don’t support your war of oil, NOT IN MY NAME.

PRESS RELEASE

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday 13 March

Stop the War Coalition (NI)

George Bush hypocrite over peace – says NI union leader

The leader of Northern Ireland’s trade union movement has accused George Bush of hypocrisy in encouraging Northern Ireland’s politicians to talk peace while plotting a devastating war against people in Iraq.

Peter Bunting, Assistant General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said today:

“Everyone in Northern Ireland wants lasting peace and we appreciate past and present-day encouragement from the United States in reaching that goal.

“But to have President Bush talk peace while plotting a St Patrick’s Day war is the ultimate in hypocrisy. We want peace, not just for the people of Northern Ireland, but also for the people of Iraq. Unfortunately President Bush has another fate for them in mind – death and destruction from air, land and sea.”

The Northern Ireland Committee of the ICTU is co-ordinating the Stop the War Coalition and has announced plans for what it expects to be Northern Ireland's biggest ever anti-war rally.

As organisers of last month’s massive Belfast peace march and rally, they now say that they expect to bring Belfast City centre and other towns across Northern Ireland to a virtual standstill in the days following the start of a US/UK-led war on Iraq.

There will be a lunchtime 'silent protest' in city and town centers across Northern Ireland at 1.00pm on the day after military action against Iraq starts. The Stop the War Coalition is asking people to assemble in their town centre to mark their opposition to war; in Belfast the location will be at Belfast City Hall. These protests will be co-ordinate by local trades councils.

This will be followed by a massive demonstration on the Saturday following military action and will follow the same format as the event held in Belfast on February 15th when tens of thousands of local people joined many millions around the world in showing their opposition to the war.

Marchers will gather at Belfast's Art College from 2pm, before marching to the front of Belfast City Hall where a rally will be staged from 3pm.

/ENDS/

FURTHER INFORMATION
Peter Bunting, Assistant General Secretary, ICTU T: 028 9024 7940 M: 07740 180869
Alisa Keane, Development Education Officer, ICTU T: 028 9024 7940 M: 07789 208809