2,000 protest against ongoing US threats to Iraq Massive anger [Archives:2003/03/Front Page]
January 20 2003
Hundreds of people including representatives of Arab political parties staged a demonstration in in Sanaa on Saturday to protest the potential U.S strike against Baghdad.
The protestors went to the UN office in Sana’a where they expressed their anger.
The demonstrators, estimated at 2,000 people carried banners condemning the US potential military attack against Iraq. Several leaders from the Ba’ath party in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon and the ruling GPC as well as opposition parties in Yemen took part in the protest.
Dozens of women participated as well. The protestors warned that any military operation against Iraq will invite counter attacks against US interests everywhere. A joint statement issued by Arab and Yemeni political parties denounced threats to strike Iraq and said that all Arabs will be obliged to defend the Arab state if war takes place. It warned against the use of the UN Resolution 1441 as a pretext to carry out the attack. It stressed that the military option will be catastrophic.
The statement added that the attack aims to destroy all strong Arab countries, condemning the cooperation with the US by some Arab states.
It called upon the international community for lifting the economic embargo imposed on Iraq and allowing Arab volunteers to take part in defending Baghdad in case of a war.
It demanded the UN to stop US threats and called upon Arab companies and investors to boycott products of attacking countries. It also demanded the suspension of all forms of normalization of relationships with Israel.
The protestors handed over a message to be delivered to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan through the UN resident representative in Sana’a, James Rawley.
Meanwhile, Yemeni official newspapers harshly criticized US threats to strike Iraq and pointed out that the war will be catastrophic to peace and stability for the whole world. It is expected that even greater rallies will take place in the coming weeks, especially as the US military build-up in the gulf continues.
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