Saturday 22nd July 2006 saw worldwide demonstrations against the Israeli attack on Lebanon and several protests were held in Scotland including Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Edinburgh Stop the War joined with other campaigning groups in calling a protest at the Mound Precinct, off Princes Street.

The protest assembled from 2.00pm at the Mound Precinct by the Royal Scottish Academy. Though not planned it was decided to march to the Scottish Parliament after first hearing a number of speakers and then holding a minute’s silence for those killed in the current conflict. One speaker from the Communist League commented that he did not see opposition from the main political parties - in fact quite the reverse. He pointed out that US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was not calling for a ceasefire. He called for an end to the economic system, which bred wars. He said there should be more protest and more actions.

A Palestinian refugee from the Gaza Strip spoke after that. Thanking everyone for attending she said her family had been kicked out of Palestine in 1967. She condemned the silence of the West, in particular the European Union, at the suffering in Gaza.

Then Moira Dunworth of the Scottish Green Party spoke saying the Scottish Green Party was there today to show solidarity with the people of Lebanon and that what was being done was not in our name. She called on First Minister Jack McConnell to speak out. She asked what had happened to proportionality and democracy and the accountability of government. She called for more street protests.

Another speaker called Esa described the beauty of Lebanon and asked the crowd to think of the people in Beirut and south Lebanon as their friends. She urged everyone to write to his or her MPs.

Carole Abudaib, who is married to an Iraqi doctor, decried the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, as being war crimes, lamenting that there was not a bigger public outcry. Lebanon was a crime against humanity as was the occupation of Palestine. Saying that Syria and Iran would be next the Muslim world would not take much more. She urged people to wake up and try and stop what might become World War 3.

Ian Drummond of Edinburgh Stop the War addressed the demo saying that the mass evacuation of Westerners from Lebanon was not so much reminiscent of Dunkirk as Rwanda. Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Most of the dead were Tutsis - and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus. Regarding the hypocrisy of the West’s humanitarian concerns, he recalled the Dundee Courier headline of 1912, which read: "Titanic Sinks! Dundee Man Feared Lost!" In Gaza he described the captured Israeli soldier as a prisoner of war, and asked what about the 9,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. The destruction of the main power plant in Gaza would take 10 months or more to repair during which time there would be sewage on the streets. He cautioned that any attack on Iran would lead to a meltdown in the Middle East. The large number of new faces in the crowd and hope that a mass movement could be built up encouraged him.
There was a speaker from the Perthshire Greens who criticised Israel’s disproportionate response. Then a former soldier called for Bush and Blair to be put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity – this drew loud cheers.

After the speeches there was a minute’s silence followed by an impromptu march to the Scottish Parliament via the Mound, Market Street, East Market Street and Canongate. The size of the protest could be seen as its full length stretched some 500 yards from the foot of the Mound to the Black Watch monument. There were chants of, “US out of the Middle East, No Justice no peace!� “Free, free Palestine!� “Troops out of the Middle East, no justice, no peace� and “Israel, Britain, USA, how many kids have you killed today?� during the half-hour march.

There were speeches at the Parliament building where a Lebanese orator criticised the lack of condemnation of Israel’s’ attack. It wasn’t a war on terrorism it was a war on Lebanon. He finished by saying “Stop the terror on Lebanon, enough is enough!�

John Wight of the Scottish Socialist Party said that the issue of the holocaust hung like a spectre over the issue of Palestine. The protesters were not anti-Semitic; they were actually pro-human beings. The Palestinian people were not responsible for the holocaust and they should not have to pay for it. The greatest crime of the 20th century was the holocaust and thus far the greatest crime of the 21st century was Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine. He articulated that an International terrorist organisation was meeting in Manchester on September 23rd and it was called the new Labour Party. He urged as many as possible to go to their conference and that Tony Blair or `Yo Blair` as Bush calls him should be in the dock for war crimes.

Scottish writer Ken MacCleod, author of `The Human Front`, then spoke to say that
America was using Israel as a battering ram. He said the world was rising up and that we should try and stop the imperialist war machine.

Pat Smith of the SSP said that in 2003 there were huge worldwide demonstrations against the attack on Iraq and that the anti-war movement had come within a hairsbreadth of stopping it. People had to keep on trying – Tony Blair is a wounded beast and we should get him in his lair in September. She predicted that Manchester would be brought to halt during the conference by a huge protest.

John Wight closed the rally by thanking those who had turned and asked people to draw inspiration from Muhammad Ali who resisted the draft in the 1960’s saying, “No Vietnamese ever called me nigger.�

The event finished at 4.00pm with Lothian and Borders police estimating the turnout to be around 1,500.

Edinburgh demonstration for Lebanon Saturday July 22nd 2006

Edinburgh demonstration for Lebanon Saturday July 22nd 2006

Edinburgh demonstration for Lebanon Saturday July 22nd 2006

Edinburgh demonstration for Lebanon Saturday July 22nd 2006

Edinburgh demonstration for Lebanon Saturday July 22nd 2006

Edinburgh demonstration for Lebanon Saturday July 22nd 2006

Edinburgh demonstration for Lebanon Saturday July 22nd 2006