Manchester, UK. 1st February 2005. A public rally is held in the Central Methodist Hall Oldham Street, Manchester city centre as part of the mobilisation for the global demonstration on March 19th 2005 against the occupation of Iraq. The hall, which has 600 seats, is packed.
Demonstrations will occur simultaneously in cities around the world aimed at bringing to an immediate end the occupation of Iraq and bringing home all foreign troops without delay.
The rally is co-organised by Greater Manchester & District CND, Greater Manchester Coalition to Stop the War. The speakers are:
Tony Benn, President of Stop the War Coalition
Lindsey German, Convenor Stop the War Coalition.
Rae Street, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Sondes Malek, Muslim Association of Britain.
Geoff Brown, Chair, Manchester Trades Union Council.
An interesting feature of this rally is an impressive large scale slide show of photographs from previous demonstrations projected on to the back of the stage. This reminds everyone present of the huge scale of the anti-war movement internationally.
The main theme of the rally is to mobilise the local anti-war movement for the London demonstration on March 19th 2005. The Bush-Blair war drive has been relentless and so too must be the response of the anti-war movement.
This clip shows the chair of Manchester Trades Union Council, Geoff Brown, talking about one of the prices that British working people are paying for the war--a vicious attack on pensions from the Blair government.
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