UK demonstrators critical of possible ban ahead of Bush's visit

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 12, 2003

UK demonstrators critical of possible ban ahead of Bush's visit

British protesters planning a mass demonstration against next week's visit of US President George W. Bush accused the government on Tuesday of blocking them from marching past the heart of London.

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British protesters planning a mass demonstration against next week's visit of US President George W. Bush accused the government on Tuesday of blocking them from marching past the heart of London.

At the invitation of the British Queen Elizabeth II, Bush and his wife Laura Bush were expected to come to London for a state visit from Nov. 19 to Nov. 21.

The Stop the War Coalition, which was expected to organize about 100,000 people to march through central London on Nov. 20, said "it was an outrage" that anti-war campaigners would be deniedthe right to protest around the main government buildings in the city center.

The anti-war group suspect they would not be allowed to march through Parliament Square and Whitehall in central London.

"It is an outrage that the most unwelcome guest this country has ever received will be given the freedom of the streets, while a movement that represents majority opinion is denied the right toprotest in the area which is the heart of government," local reports quoted a spokeswoman for the Stop the War Coalition as saying.

The Metropolitan police, which said it would facilitate lawful demonstrations, earlier said in a statement that protestors were being kept away from Parliament, to ensure "minimum possible disruption" to lawmakers, and to "protect the democratic process."

Road closures would not be revealed until the last minute for security reasons, the police said.

Bush's three-day visit, which is believed to be the first statevisit of an American president in over 20 years, also reportedly prompts a tension between US security agents and London mayor Ken livingstone.

According to local reports, US officials were demanding an exclusive zone in central London for Bush's visit, while Livingstone wants to keep the city as "open as possible".

"The ideas of some American security advisers that perhaps we should shut the whole of central London for three days, ignoring the economic consequences of that, I don't think that has got a chance at all," Livingstone was quoted as saying.

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