March 19, 2003
An anti-war protester was arrested today as activists staged a "die-in" outside the south London home of the foreign secretary, Jack Straw. In one of dozens of similar protests held around the country, the 40-strong group from the Stop the War Coalition dressed in bandages and covered themselves in fake blood before heading towards Mr Straw's house.
The man was arrested as he tried to ride a bicycle through a police barrier at one end of the quiet residential street behind the Oval cricket ground. Minutes later the group hurled abuse at the foreign secretary as he was whisked away in a chauffeur-driven government Jaguar at 7.45am. Later, the protesters lay still on the pavement for 10 minutes as commuters looked on.
The organiser of the die-in, Nick Buxton, a website editor from south London, called for the government to heed public opinion. Mr Buxton said: "This is a wake-up call to Jack Straw. Two-thirds of the Iraqi population rely on food aid - food aid that will be stopped when the war starts. The government has not addressed this problem."
The protest was part of a week of non-violent action against the impending war on Iraq. Other die-ins were taking place around the country while school and university students across Britain were organising demonstrations, according to the Stop the War Coalition website. John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said that pupils missing lessons to attend protests should not be treated as seriously as persistent truants.
Protests were also continuing in Australia today, where Greenpeace activists blockaded the official residence of the country's prime minister, John Howard, for nearly three hours. Federal police played down the incident, but an angry and embarrassed Mr Howard was forced to walk through the protesters and climb into a car outside the gates of his residence to get to work.
Activists in the US are planning a massive "stop the war" march in New York on Saturday. The United for Peace and Justice group, which has already begun coordinating die-ins and direct action in city halls and public buildings across the country, is expecting thousands to gather in Manhattan to march on Times Square.
In the Philippines, hundreds of placard-waving demonstrators gathered for the second day outside the US embassy in Manila. Some of the protesters held large clocks showing times in Baghdad and America as they counted down the hours and minutes to the deadline for an invasion. In yesterday's demonstration, at least 11 people were injured when riot police dispersed crowds with truncheons and water cannon.
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