End the Occupation March

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Saturday September 27, 2003 19:02

by No War! No Occupation!

Quick report on today's anti-war march.

A little over 2,000 people took part in a march against the occupation of Iraq in the centre of Dublin. The march was called by the Irish Anti War Movement (IAWM), the NGO Peace Alliance and The Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA).

When the protest began to gather at Parnell Square I began to worry that the numbers could be embarrassingly small. At 2PM there there were only a few hundred people present but by the time the march started moving the crowd had swelled to respectable proportions.

The protesters mostly consisted of the hard core of the peace movement, with pacifists and the left (SWP, Socialist Party, Workers Party, anarchists etc) very prominent. A group of around twenty sullen looking people played dress up and wore black masks and hoods, something which didn't add to the generally welcoming family atmosphere.

The march wound its way down to government buildings where there was a very large and visible police presence. The speakers concentrated on the awful effects of the war and occupation on the Iraqi people. The cowardice of the Irish government in allowing the US war machine to use Shannon airport has obviously not been forgotten either.

Tomorrow sees the poorly advertised IAWM conference. It will be interesting to see what the mood at the event is like.