From the archive: a cold march
Several hundred people turn out on a freezing Saturday in Whitechapel to march in protest against British and American troops in Falluja and the number of people being killed there. The march begins in Altab Ali Park, where Whitechapel Muslims and people from across London and the UK gather to hear speakers criticise New Labour's Iraq policy and the violence in Falluja, and to demand that the western troops leave Iraq.
Large groups of young Muslim men and women gather with banners, flags and loudspeakers. They say that they hope that news of the turnout get to Downing Street, and that they will keep coming, because they can't be ignored forever. Members of one group have dressed in orange like Guantanamo Bay prisoners and chained themselves together in a row.
Some of the rest arrive at the park on their way back from a night out. Saleh, who is 17, articulate, and says he is unemployed, has turned up with a group of about ten friends. They push him up the front to talk on their behalf. 'He talks all the time anyway,' they say. 'Look at him. He wants to be the prime minister.'
'Don't look at me! Look at him!' Saleh shrieks, pointing at Alif, 18, who is tall, good-looking and very sharp, for a Saturday demonstrator, in a very new white suit. 'Look at that suit. He's wants to be the first gay prime minister.' Alif punches him.
'We came because there''s not enough McDonald's in this area and we think that Blair is responsible,' Saleh laughs. 'Nah, nah, I''m just joking around. I came down here because I want to be counted and I want to be seen giving my support. We want to talk about Iraq. They have no regard for what they are doing there. We think it's personal, what's happening in Falluja.'
Alif is a political studies student. He says that he goes to as many demonstrations and meetings as he can now, and that politicians need to see how many local people are involved. 'You ask yourself why they are in Iraq and you know it's for economic reasons,' he says. 'I was reading that the US has enough oil left for five years itself, so they will go anywhere there is for oil.'
Kamal, 18, says he came down because 'it is important to show respect. The people in Falluja are dying. That is something else.'
Everyone else starts giving Saleh a hard time then, because they suddenly notice that he's put his heavy jacket on, and the jacket's got the word USA sewn across the front of it. 'You are useless,' Alif says. 'Look at that.'
'I'm freezing,' Saleh says, shivering. 'You're not cold, because you're standing next to me, because you're gay.' He looks down his front. 'How did that get there?' he asks, looking at the word USA. He sticks an Iraq Will Be Liberated sticker over the word USA. 'I can sum everything up for you,' he says. 'Blair. That idiot. In a nutshell, yeah, we want Blair to go.'
November 2004