Jordan Times
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Marchers demand immediate end to occupation of Iraq
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN, March 21 - Around 500 people took to the streets on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, and demanded immediate end of the occupation.
Chanting pro-Iraq slogans and “Down with the United States,” the protesters - who marched from the Professional Associations Complex towards the United Nations headquarters in Shmeisani - called on the US, British and other nations' forces to immediately withdraw from Iraq and grant its people their freedom and independence.
“All nations should follow Spain and decide to pull out their troops from Iraq,” said Hamzeh Mansour, secretary general of the Islamic Action Front, the largest opposition party in the Kingdom.
Carrying portraits of the toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, protesters also called on Arab and international communities to support Iraqi resistance against occupation.
Waving Jordanian and Iraqi flags, organizers - representing the country's 14 professional associations, opposition parties and local civil societies - held a half-hour sit-in in front of the UN headquarters. A letter was submitted to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, through the UN office in Amman, calling on him to issue an official statement expressing the illegitimacy of the war and invasion of Iraq.
“We are here to
protest Bush's and Blair's unjust and bloody war and occupation in Iraq, and to
urge the international community to be aware of any potential US plans to divide
Iraq,” said Wael Saqqa, president of the Jordan Engineers Association - the
largest professional association in the country.
Organizers also called on the Arab and international communities to denounce US threats against Syria and support the Palestinian people in their struggle against the bloody Zionist aggression.
The march, which was
conducted under heavy security, ended peacefully after protesters burnt a US and
Israeli flag.
Yesterday's march was one of hundreds held in several Arab and foreign countries to mark the first anniversary of the start of the Anglo-US invasion of Iraq.