Date:02/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/02/stories/2006030204311500.htm

International

Families of soldiers march to Blair's house

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Angry relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq, marched to Downing Street on Wednesday to demand a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair saying that he should have the "courage'' to meet the families of young men he sent to a war "based on a series of lies''.

Protesters complained that their repeated requests for a meeting had been turned down and they suspected that Mr Blair wanted to avoid answering "embarrassing'' questions about the justification for the Iraq invasion. They called him a "coward'' for refusing to meet them.

"It shows that he feels he is on a sticky wicket, someone who has almost got a guilty conscience,'' said the father of one soldier who died in Iraq last year. The protest came a day after two more soldiers were killed raising the British casualties in Iraq to 103 and prompting fresh demands for troops to be brought home. A huge "Troops Out'' demonstration is planned on March 18 to mark the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq invasion.