Anti Trident demos - pics and video

[faceless]

Scots Rally Against Trident
Updated: 13:41, Saturday February 24, 2007

Around 1,000 protesters have gathered in Glasgow calling for the Trident nuclear weapon system to be ditched. Political, church and union leaders joined the crowds at the Bin The Bomb rally, which was loosely tied in with an anti-war and anti-nuclear rally in London. Prime Minister Tony Blair set out plans late last year to replace Trident, based on the Clyde at Faslane, at an estimated cost of up to £20b. He said retention of the nuclear deterrent was "crucial" to national security, and Parliament is due to decide on the plans next month.

SNP leader Alex Salmond joined Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan and CND vice-president Bruce Kent in speaking in Glasgow's George Square after an hour-long march through the streets. Mr Salmond told people they had a choice at this May's Holyrood elections to vote for a "nuclear-free Scotland". He said there was a choice between a "continuation down the route of wasting billions on a Trident replacement and ignoring international commitments to rid the world of nuclear weapons; or choosing to take the path of peace and prosperity. The people of Scotland have shown their opposition to Trident time and again. Instead of wasting billions on a weapons system that cannot protect us from terrorism, people would rather see that money spent on schools, hospitals and fighting crime."

The rally came as a poll showed that 76% of Scots would rather see money for Trident spent on public services. The YouGov poll, commissioned by the SNP, also found that two-thirds of the country opposed the purchase of a system to replace the weapons system.

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I had a great time at this demo today - a lot of the time I feel a bit of a voice in the dark as so few people are interested in protesting because they're either a) cynical b) apathetic c) arseholes but today was a great time to see so many people in tune and together on something that was purely about showing unity with fellow humans. When the two main Catholic and Protestant leaders in Scotland are on the same stage in complete unison you know that there's something important going on. If you're reading this and thinking "well it won't change anything" then I feel sorry for you as you wallow in impotence, because, as one of the speakers pointed out, there are many things in history which people said could never be changed - slavery, votes for women, apartheid, etc - and where are they now?

I'll post some photos and video of the event in a while once I've got them sorted. There was a lot more than 1000 people there as the pics will show.

[faceless]

ok, here's some pics - more to come, but the bloody battery died on the camera as I was transferring and I've got to charge them up...

The last picture in this post is of Alex Salmond, the leader of the SNP, which is expected to be the main party in the Scottish Parliament after elections in May. He is dead set against the 20bn pounds it's expected to cost to replace trident - seeing such radical ideas as health and education as being more important.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

Brilliant pictures faceless. That does look like quite a healthy turn-out to the protest for sure.

I agree with all you had to say in your initial post. Well done.

[faceless]

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[faceless]

here's video of George Galloway at the London demo. This was recorded live about 20 minutes ago

http://www.couchtripper.com/video/07-02-24-GeorgeGalloway-SKYNews.wmv

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[faceless]

ok, here's the last of the pics - I'll get the video done later...

the older man on the left of the first pic is Monsignor Bruce Kent, of CND

[faceless]

Ok, here's the video I got - I filmed this bit to show how many people were there... the procession of people took about 15 minutes to go past.

http://couchtripper.com/video/TridentDemo.wmv

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[luke]

nice one faceless, great video and pics

[major.tom]

Well done, Faceless. Thanks for the photos and videos. The musical track for your video also made me smile. Can't say I've heard that particular recording of the Proclaimers "500 Miles" before.

Cheers!

[luke]

i've finally managed to get georges speech from london today online

its here on http://www.sendspace.com/file/1midbm

and should sometime be available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUe9knqYzE

[luke]

and some pics

[luke]

and more ...