The Hindu : Anti-war protesters knock at Downing Street

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 07, 2002

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International

Anti-war protesters knock at Downing Street

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON AUG. 6. The growing protest against British military intervention in Iraq reached the doorsteps of Downing Street today when a `declaration' signed by nearly 3,000 people was handed over to the Prime Minister's office deploring what it called attempts to use war as an "acceptable instrument of foreign policy''.

The signatories to the two-page declaration cut across the right-left divide in the academia and the church prompting comparisons with previous anti-war protests normally led by left-wing factions. Pax Christi, the worldwide Catholic peace movement behind the move, said the overwhelming response reflected the depth of public anger on the issue. The fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury-designate Rowan Williams was among the signatories lent added weight to the protest, it was stated.

Observers noted that it was the first time since the Suez crisis that such a wide range of opinion, particularly among the clergy, had come out so strongly against British involvement in military action. A number of church figures joined the delegation that went to Downing Street this afternoon to submit the "anti-war declaration''. They warned that any action against Iraq without a fresh U.N. mandate would be `illegal' and `immoral'.

``It is deplorable that the world's most powerful nations continue to regard war and the threat of war as an acceptable instrument of foreign policy in violation of the ethos of both the United Nations and Christian moral teaching,'' they said.

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