“Who’s the last visitor Gordon Brown needs at a time like this?” asks The Independent newspaper. “Step forward George Bush.” During his state visit on Sunday 15 June, Bush will be “entertained by the Queen at Windsor Castle” and “have dinner with Gordon Brown at Downing Street”.

He will also face a national demonstration organised by Stop the War Coalition and CND. As Andrew Murray, national chair of Stop the War told The Independent, “George Bush should be in The Hague facing war crimes charges over the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed in Iraq since 2003, not being entertained in Downing Street. Gordon Brown doesn’t need a policy brief for this meeting, just a pair of handcuffs.”

The demonstration, which assembles in Parliament Square at 1pm, will include the delivery to Downing Street of numerous handcuffs, attached to which will be quotations from leading voices in the world of politics and the arts, giving their reasons why mass murderers like Bush are not welcome here (see below).

The United States’ government says George Bush’s visit is “to strengthen the transatlantic partnership and to celebrate the enduring friendship between our nations”. Our demonstration will represent the vast majority in this country who have always opposed the Iraq war and we will be
saying loud and clear that rather than welcoming George Bush, the British government should be denouncing his war crimes and Gordon Brown should be fulfilling his promise to develop an independent foreign policy by withdrawing British troops.

Please publicise the demonstration as widely as you can and encourage your friends, work colleagues, fellow students etc to join the demonstration on Sunday 15 June. Leaflets and posters are available from the Stop the War office (telephone 020 7278 6694).

GEORGE BUSH NOT WELCOME HERE
DEMONSTRATE SUNDAY 15 JUNE, 1.00PM
PARLIAMENT SQUARE, LONDON
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
Called by Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament