Reuters. 22 September 2001. Marchers Protest Against War During EU Talks. LIEGE -- About 1,000 protesters marched through the Belgian city of Liege under banners reading "Make Love, Not War" on Saturday as EU finance ministers discussed the September 11 assaults on the United States. The organizers, a broad alliance of social rights groups and left-wing activists dubbed D14, headed toward the barricaded conference center where the ministers were meeting, saying they wanted to deliver a letter demanding peace and more social rights. After the suicide plane attacks that left some 6,800 people dead or missing in New York and Washington, and European Union leaders' pledge of support for a U.S. riposte, the militants coupled calls for more jobs and democracy in Europe with an anti-war message. "Today the first principle is to be anti-war and refuse to participate in U.S. action," D14 militant George Robert said. "We think military action can only end in more deaths," another D14 activist, Raoul Hebebouw, told Reuters. "We want Europe to pull out of NATO." A police spokeswoman said several people bound for Liege were taken off a train on the way from Antwerp and held for identity checks. She gave no other details but one protester who said he was on the train reported that police arrested four people and confiscated banners and a couple of pocket knives. The organizers had hoped as many as 3,000 people would join the march from a town hall square to the conference center on an island in the middle of the river Meuse that runs through Liege. Police had kept a low profile on Friday when some 11,000 people from trade unions and mainstream non-governmental groups braved pouring rain to stage a peaceful, carnival-style rally and took a similar tack at the outset in Liege on Saturday. "On our side it will be peaceful," said Hebebouw. "I don't know about the police...It's important to emphasize peace." Saturday's protest, gathering anti-capitalists, students, communists, environmentalists and anarchist flag-wavers, has been shunned by the trade unions and NGOs that marched on Friday, but many of their demands are the same. It was not clear if marchers would challenge the security cordon of riot police, barbed wire fences and heavy metal containers set up to protect the conference center. Police sources -- edgy after chaotic anti-globalization protests at European Union and Group of Eight summits in Gothenburg and Genoa in recent months -- said earlier this week there was some risk of violence on Saturday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
