Rochdale well represented at anti-war protest in Manchester

Amy Gilligan with the ‘Blair-in-a-bin’ effigy

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Rochdale was well represented amongst the tens of thousands of protesters who gathered in Manchester on Saturday 23 September to demand the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, an end to threats against Iran and the abandonment of plans to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Philip and Amy Gilligan pushed their ‘Blair-in-a-bin’ effigy all the way from Rochdale Town Hall to central Manchester, where they were welcomed by scores of Rochdale peace campaigners, including veteran activists Pauline Devine and Pat Sanchez from Littleborough and District Peace Group, and first-time demonstrators like Kate Crawford from Norden and Paul Barton from Milnrow. Andy Jessop from Cronkeyshaw even joined the demonstration complete with his luggage, straight from Manchester airport. 

The Rochdale contingent enthusiastically joined the loud applause when Jacqui Darbyshire of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament condemned the Blair government’s "immoral" decision to continue squandering £25 billion on the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system, at the same time as they are cutting health services and planning to close the Accident and Emergency Department at Rochdale Infirmary. They also joined the 30,000 other demonstrators in cheering demands for a fundamental changes in government foreign policy.

Philip Gilligan said: “We were very thankful for such good weather as we pushed ‘Blair-in-a-bin’ and his mock Trident missile through Castleton and Middleton and on to Manchester, under the slogan ‘Bread Not Bombs'.

"I was extremely encouraged by the large numbers of younger people from Rochdale who joined the demonstration. Unlike Blair and Brown, and the minority of our local MPs like Phil Woolas who supported the illegal invasion of Iraq, and still fail to condemn the government’s craven support for US militarism, our young people are demanding policies for their country which pursue peace and justice, rather than death and destruction. They recognise that we need much more than a meaningless change from one warmonger in charge of the government to another. We need fundamental changes in policy. We want our money spent on essential public services and saving lives, not squandered on sending young men and women to kill and be killed in Afghanistan and Iraq or on developing ever more dangerous nuclear weapons systems.”