“Stop bombing Iraq” protests in London

Demonstrators on Saturday marched the streets of central London to protest Britain’s involvement in US-led air strikes against Islamic State (IS) insurgents in Iraq.

The protesters, who marched in their hundreds, chanted slogans like “Hands off the Middle East, no justice, no peace”. Some of them held up placards with slogans such as “Stop bombing Iraq”.

The march comes a day after ISIS released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning, who had been kidnapped by the Islamic State group. It was however learnt that the London protest had been organised before the video was released.

The UK parliament voted last week that Britain joined US-led strikes on targets in Iraq but not Syria. There are eight British-owned Tornado jets flying out of Cyprus in combat operations in Iraq.

AFP quotes one of the demonstrators, Francis O’Neill, 36, as saying that he had “every sympathy” with Henning’s family but believed air strikes were not the solution.

He added: “Whether you see someone being beheaded or being hit by a drone strike… it makes no difference,”

Another demonstrator, Carl Backland, 55, said of the military offensives: “It’s just making the situation worse. It’s crazy that we’re spending billions to destroy weapons that we gave to the Iraqi army.”