Bulgarians Join Global Protests against US-led War on Iraq

Politics | March 23, 2003, Sunday // 00:00
Bulgarians Join Global Protests against US-led War on Iraq Bulgarians protest against the war in Iraq with banners reading "Send Weapons Inspectors to US". Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (novinite.com)

Hundreds of placard waiving Bulgarians gathered peacefully in Sofia Sunday to join rallies worldwide calling for an end to the war in Iraq.

Two protests were held in the morning and midday in Sofia, organized by the Socialist Youth Movement, the ecological movement "For the Earth" and a number of non-governmental organizations.

Carrying a long banner of crepe and a puppet of US President Bush, hundreds of young Bulgaria passed by the US Cultural Center and the US Embassy, calling for a quick end to the war and against the death of innocent people.

Later they merged with the second protest, where people waived red flags and banners, reading "No War", "Send Weapons Inspectors to Iraq".

A young man was arrested in the garden near US Embassy in Sofia while anti-globalists staged a peace rally against the war in Iraq March 23.

Police checked the identity cards of a group of young men who stood aside of the protesting people. The young men claimed they were members of the Bulgarian National Union.

The name of the detained is reportedly Boyan Rassate from the Bulgarian National Union. He has been arrested because he had no documents and will be released soon, police told journalists.

The peace rallies came after a series of protests were staged against the looming US-led war.

Some two hundred people protested against war in Iraq on March 16 in the center of Bulgarian capital Sofia. The motto of the protest was "No to war in Iraq! No to the US bases in Bulgaria!".

In mid February nearly 2000 people took part in antiwar rallies in Sofia and Bulgaria's second biggest town of Plovdiv, joining hundreds of thousands of antiwar protesters that gathered around the world to voice their opposition to a military conflict in Iraq.

Following a rally staged by more than five-hundred people on January 22, a concert against the war was organized February 9. Then some hundred people staged a rally in Sofia against the US attack on Iraq. The organisers said they recruit volunteers who are ready to fight in the Iraqi army against the U.S.-led coalition. The protest that took place in front of the National Palace of Culture.

Thousands of anti-war protesters have taken to the streets in cities around the world this weekend.

In New York Saturday there are estimates that as many as 200,000 took part in an anti-war march.

The biggest anti-war protests in Europe have been the Spanish city of Barcelona where a half a million people took to the streets.

In Madrid, Spanish police clashed with war protesters for a second straight night Saturday after more than 100,000 people in a mile-long march caused traffic jams in the center of the city.

In Australia, as many as 50,000 people gathered in Sydney on Sunday in a rally to protest against the war in Iraq and Australia's decision to commit troops to the conflict. The demonstration followed three straight days of similar protests in the southern city of Melbourne.

In Brussels, hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the U.S. Embassy, which police guarded behind barricades. Some wore jackets saying, "We don't want your capitalist war."

Hundreds of people in Moscow marched and laid rows of plastic bottles filled with a dark fluid, labeled "oil," in a street.

The British capital saw one of its largest-ever antiwar demonstration ever.

In Rome, the environmental group Greenpeace joined demonstrations.

The protests were not limited to Europe. A small but vocal crowd gathered in India's capital and shouted their support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. They also condemned the leaders of the United States, Britain, and Pakistan. People also demonstrated against the war in Mumbai.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Politics » Be a reporter: Write and send your article

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria