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Over 100,000 Protest Against Bush in London

By STAFF

Gannett News Service/The Olympian, London (U.K.), Nov. 21, 2003



Tens of thousands of protesters jammed central London on Thursday [November 20] in a peaceable demonstration against President Bush. Many of them blamed him for the deadly bombings in Turkey [this week, killing over 50 and injuring over 600]. 'His war on terror has made us a bigger target than we were before,' said Melvyn Norman, 42, who traveled to London from Leicester with his 76-year-old mother for the march. Scotland Yard estimated about 110,000 marchers had showed up by late afternoon. By early evening, 52 people had been arrested on mostly minor charges, according to Scotland Yard.

After snaking their way through London and marching past Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence, they gathered in Trafalgar Square and - to the cheers of a crowd of about 30,000 - toppled a papier-mache statute of Bush. The action was meant to mimic the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein during the fall of Baghdad. 'Bullies have no friends,' several posters read. Another common placard, printed with a picture of Bush: 'Nobody likes you.' Though Blair is Bush's closest ally in the war on terror, polls in Britain show a deep dislike of Bush and concern about the relationship between the two. This week, an Independent newspaper poll showed that nearly 60 percent of Britons think their country's political relationship with the United States is damaging.