Republican News · Thursday 20 February 2003

Massive Belfast rally

They came from all over the Six Counties on Saturday to tell Tony Blair and George Bush that their proposed war against Iraq just doesn't have popular support.

The estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people who gathered at Belfast City Hall on Saturday drew from all across northern society; the crowd was made up of young and old, working class and middle class. Among the many Sinn Féin members in attendance was party president Gerry Adams.

There were socialists and communists, republicans and nationalists. I presume there were unionists (with a small u) in the crowd as well. However, these would have been going against the public pronouncements of the unionist leadership, which has sided with Blair and Bush's war aims.

The main speaker at Saturday's rally was Derry's Eamon McCann. He warned that "the last time we listened to a bush we spent 40 years wandering in the desert".

Several hundred people also attended a rally in Newry, County Down.