Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Protest in Chester: Optimism and Observation

Sean Roach "Seattle" | 20.11.2003 16:30 | Bush 2003 | Indymedia | Liverpool

Chester held its own welcoming committee for the President un-elect last night, complete with a seven foot papier-mâché statue of Bush and a list of 20 indictments against the man.

Toppling Bush
Toppling Bush


The two hundred person crowd cheered as the statue was toppled before Chester’s town hall at the end of the hour long protest which was put on by the Chester chapter of the Stop the War Coalition.
“We need to stop his policies from getting a grip in this country”, said activist, organizer and social worker Richard Akinson. “There is a lot of work to be done and that is part of our campaign trying to educate people about what Bush’s policies are and why they should be opposed.”
Many protestors hope that Americans will see how unpopular Bush is in England, which would damage him in upcoming presidential elections. Mr Akinson said: “I think it’s going to stop bush using this as a source of sound bites and film shots for his re-election campaign.”
Fancis Lane, a teacher, postal worker and member of the Coalition expressed her resentment of Bush and Blair: “There are a number of reasons why people don’t agree with Bush and his policies. Personally as an ecologist Global warming and the way he has failed to support the Kyoto protocol is a big issue for me. And the other one is the way he and Blair have failed to support the nuclear non- proliferation treaty which is on the verge of collapse.”
The Chester Stop the War Coalition has been organizing since October of 2001, by holding meetings, protests, discussions with city and school officials and by handing out information during the busy weekends in the town center. The coalition has maintained it’s resilience despite heavy opposition in what many call a ‘very conservative’ city which has been marred recently by racial and anti-homosexual rows.

Police and Community Harassment

Many activists would not give their names due to recent police and community harassment. One told of a recent Stop The War Coalition meeting which was attended by police. Chester law enforcement were on the scene at last night’s protest but declined to comment on allegations of MET involvement and the allegations of MET & US Secret Service coordination on requesting numbers of expected protestors.
Mrs Lane said: “There is a serious issue of freedom of speech especially this week when there’s been so many movements to restrict protesters by not letting them go to where they’re allowed to go. I mean there are 14,000 police shifts over the next couple of days and when you think of the money it’s costing... and they’re saying you can go here and not there, it’s an issue about freedom of speech!”
Another Coalition member who wished to remain anonymous spoke of their meeting with the University Chester College president regarding the protest, and being told the university was not a political establishment. The person expressed disappointment with the lack of student response and an administration that would not allow political groups to dissent. “It’s the students who will be living the life of continuous war”, they stated.

When asked about the suspension of some students who have walked out in protest of Bush/Blair policies Francis Lane commented: “I think it is very heavy handed considering everyone under 18 does not have the right to vote and people have to express themselves in other ways. They can walk out of schools as they have done in the past, strike at universities and make their views known.”

Solidarity and Optimism

Protesters and organizers were optimistic about their approach to combating the policies of Bush and Blair.

Mr Akinson commented on the motivation for protest in the local populace: “A lot of them are already responding I mean look at who we have here tonight, and we have a full coach load going from Chester on its own to London to join the protest there tomorrow.”

While Mrs Lane urged: “carry on building a grassroots movement and a protest movement. I mean all over, the world is looking at these protests just now, it is a global movement.”

For more information about this protest and the Chester Stop The War Coalition visit their website at: www.chesterstopwar.org.uk. A list of twenty indictments against Bush and other materials can be found there as well.

Sean Roach "Seattle"
- e-mail: SeanRoach26@hotmail.com

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Mr — Roger Hayes
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech