Christian peacemakers protest on third anniversary of Iraq invasion
-20/03/06
Antiwar p
Christian peacemakers protest on third anniversary of Iraq invasion
-20/03/06
Antiwar protesters around the world, including many Christians, took their message of peace to the streets this weekend, marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Before joining the main protests, members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams held their own demonstration in front of city hall in Toronto, Canada, to pay tribute to their slain colleague, American Tom Fox, whose body was found March 9.
Fox and three colleagues, including Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, were kidnapped in Iraq last November by the previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades.
There has been no word on the fate of Loney, Sooden and Briton Norman Kember since Fox’s body was found.
“There has been way too much bloodshed in Iraq and now the blood of our colleague Tom Fox is added to that river,” peacemakers spokesman Doug Pritchard told the crowd. “We know what it is like to lose a loved one to the insanity of war, just like the tens of thousands of Iraqi families.”
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Toronto NDP MP Peggy Nash told the crowd that Canada should engage in debate on the war and not simply fall in line with the U.S. agenda.
“We can’t slide into George Bush’s war on terror, we have to have a national debate,” Nash said.
“We must get it fully on the agenda of this country, including in our House of Commons where we want to be able to stand up and speak out for peace.”
Protesters marched into the city’s downtown core, with a dozen people adorned in black hoods, evoking photographs of prisoner abuse at Baghdad’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
In Toronto, protesters, including students, trade unionists and religious groups, assembled in front of a downtown courthouse across from the U.S. consulate for the country’s largest antiwar rally.
The demonstrators didn’t limit their message to the Iraq conflict – also waving blood-splattered placards calling on Canada to withdraw its 2,200 troops from Afghanistan.
“What you’re seeing today, with 36 towns and cities across Canada marching in the third anniversary of the war in Iraq is, I think, a resurgence in the antiwar movement,” said event organizer James Black of the Coalition to Stop the War.
“The consequence of the antiwar movement in general in discrediting the war on terror has helped build a stronger opposition in Canada to our involvement in Afghanistan.”
In the UK Christian peace campaigners met in Parliament Square to remember Tom Fox and the other hostages still being held in Iraq, before taking part in demonstration against the invasion of Iraq.
Christian peacemakers protest on third anniversary of Iraq invasion
-20/03/06
Antiwar protesters around the world, including many Christians, took their message of peace to the streets this weekend, marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Before joining the main protests, members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams held their own demonstration in front of city hall in Toronto, Canada, to pay tribute to their slain colleague, American Tom Fox, whose body was found March 9.
Fox and three colleagues, including Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, were kidnapped in Iraq last November by the previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades.
There has been no word on the fate of Loney, Sooden and Briton Norman Kember since Fox’s body was found.
“There has been way too much bloodshed in Iraq and now the blood of our colleague Tom Fox is added to that river,” peacemakers spokesman Doug Pritchard told the crowd. “We know what it is like to lose a loved one to the insanity of war, just like the tens of thousands of Iraqi families.”
Related Articles
Toronto NDP MP Peggy Nash told the crowd that Canada should engage in debate on the war and not simply fall in line with the U.S. agenda.
“We can’t slide into George Bush’s war on terror, we have to have a national debate,” Nash said.
“We must get it fully on the agenda of this country, including in our House of Commons where we want to be able to stand up and speak out for peace.”
Protesters marched into the city’s downtown core, with a dozen people adorned in black hoods, evoking photographs of prisoner abuse at Baghdad’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
In Toronto, protesters, including students, trade unionists and religious groups, assembled in front of a downtown courthouse across from the U.S. consulate for the country’s largest antiwar rally.
The demonstrators didn’t limit their message to the Iraq conflict – also waving blood-splattered placards calling on Canada to withdraw its 2,200 troops from Afghanistan.
“What you’re seeing today, with 36 towns and cities across Canada marching in the third anniversary of the war in Iraq is, I think, a resurgence in the antiwar movement,” said event organizer James Black of the Coalition to Stop the War.
“The consequence of the antiwar movement in general in discrediting the war on terror has helped build a stronger opposition in Canada to our involvement in Afghanistan.”
In the UK Christian peace campaigners met in Parliament Square to remember Tom Fox and the other hostages still being held in Iraq, before taking part in demonstration against the invasion of Iraq.