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Colourful cavalcade protests against Bush UK visit
(Meg Clothier and Sabina Zawadzki, Reuters, November 19, 2003)
George W. Bush and Queen Elizabeth lookalikes in an open-top coach, a giant inflatable missile and a pink "peace tank" wound through London in a cavalcade of protest against the U.S. president. . . . The march on Wednesday was a colourful prelude to demonstrations on Thursday, when some 100,000 people were expected to take to the capital's streets to express their anger about the war in Iraq. . . . "I'm ashamed to be British. I'm ashamed Tony Blair and the Queen are entertaining this megalomaniac," said Cherry Bennet, 40, a scriptwriter from London. "I'm not a mad left-winger," she said. "I'm middle England." . . . Bennet was among hundreds of people gathered on the south bank of the River Thames, where the "Alternative State Procession" kicked off a day of opposition on the streets to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and Britain's participation in it. . . . Kate, from Devon, over 100 miles away, said she too planned to stay all night. "Bush should go. He causes destruction. He destroys property, people, the environment. He is a global menace." . . . It was mostly a frustrating day for protesters, who tried in vain to catch a glimpse of Bush as security men whisked him from one engagement to the next. . . . Across town, the cavalcade rumbled away, led by a horse-drawn carriage carrying the celebrity lookalikes. Behind the coach was an 18-foot-long inflatable Trident missile and a pink "peace and love tank", driven by a young boy. . . . A black London cab represented "taxi drivers against the war", and a red London bus advertised its route as London-Baghdad. Some dressed as U.N. weapons inspectors; others poured red dye into the water of a Trafalgar Square fountain to represent blood spilt in Iraq. . . . "This is really street theatre symbolising all the different elements of the peace movement," said Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition, one of the organisers. . . . Airline worker Dawn Totten, 50, said she had flown from her home in the United States to join the protest. "I came all the way from San Francisco because demonstrations go unrecognised and unreported there."

posted by Lorenzo 4:56 PM