RUSHOLME - Local restaurant Lal Qila, ‘The Red Fort’, was besieged last night as Labour bigwigs attended a party function. A crowd of about one hundred people picketed the premises to protest at the presence of two MPs who supported the invasion of Iraq: Peter Mandelson (Hartlepool), and local so-called ‘representative’ Gerald Kaufman. About a dozen police were also present, and diners joined the throng as they left Lal Qila and adjacent curry-houses.

EGGED

As Kaufman got out of his BMW, a small, casually dressed man egged him squarely on the bonce. A burly minder pounced on the slight assailant, but despite Kaufman’s shouted orders to ‘Arrest him!’, the local hero was able to withdraw to safety. Whilst PCs unenthusiastically contemplated whether or not to nick him, he departed eastwards on foot, at speed.

MURDERERS’ MADRAS

As Kaufman and Mandy – who had brazenly entered the restaurant by the front door, avoiding the crowd staking out the back – sat down to dine, they were treated to chants of ‘US out of Iraq, Liers out of Rusholme’, referring to Mandelson’s troubled relationship with verity. The chorus, ‘You say madras, we say murderers’, contrasted the tasty meal rapidly disappearing down their war-mongering gullets with the fate which they served up to so many in Iraq. Passers-by supported the picket with cheers, salutes, and the blaring of car-horns.

REPRESENTATIVE?

Locals are deeply angered by Kaufman’s support for US aggression in Iraq. In his constituency, which comprises Fallowfield, Rusholme, Longsight, Levenshulme, and Gorton, anti-war sentiment remains the majority view. In April the MP left a Saturday morning jumble sale in ignominy after mothers slow hand-clapped him – they had been informed of his pro-war stance by activists. His failure to represent the views of the people has raised painful questions for the Westminster system, and led to a mood not so much of voter apathy, as antipathy. Not surprising then, that as well as handing out leaflets on the war, the demonstrators were also publicising the Manchester People’s Assembly, which will be held on Saturday 7th June at the Friends Meeting House in Mount Street. The anti-war movement in Manchester is now a pro-democracy movement too, working towards its own solutions in place of Mandy and Kaufman’s sorry world of capitalism and war.

Manchester Stop the War:
 http://www.manchesterstopthewar.org/
Manc Uni Stop the War:
 http://www.umu.man.ac.uk/stopwar
Manchester People's Assembly:
 http://www.manchesterstopthewar.org/pap.html