5th August 2006

Over 60 people joined the vigil in Stroud today, Saturday 5th August to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (i) and to call an end to the brutality in the Middle East. Meanwhile a march in London drew thousands to Trafalgar Square calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Cllr Philip Booth, a Stroud District councillor who joined the vigil in Stroud said: "As we talk, civilians are being killed in the Lebanon by bombs sold and donated by the US and passed through British airports with the support of the British government. This cannot be anything other than a war crime committed by Israel with the support of the American and the British government."

Philip Booth added: "A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in Lebanon: hundreds killed, a vast refugee crisis and over £1bn-worth of damage to civilian infrastructure like roads, bridges and electricity and clean water supplies. Yet only Israel, the US and the British Government have refused to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region."

Philip Booth added: "It was good to stand with so many people in Stroud today. We condemn the violence on all sides and call on Israel and Hezbollah to cease all military actions, which are indiscriminately killing civilians - and forcing them to flee their homes - and as such clearly breach international law. It's clear that Blair and Beckett's response to the crisis has been inadequate and irresponsible to the point of placing the UK, along with the US and Israel, in a new, deadly, 'axis of evil' which has caused the deaths of innocent women and children and the worsening of prospects for peace in the region."


Notes:

(i) 6th August is the actual anniversary. See more at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki