Lukewarm Welcome for George W
Protesters rallied through Oxford yesterday to voice opposition to President George Bush's arrival in the United Kingdom.
For the last week the city has been covered in posters and leaflets campaigning against Prime Minister Tony Blair's invitation to Bush, whose three day visit to Britain will come to an end this Friday. Yesterday a die-in protest, which involved protesters playing dead, took place on Cornmarket, before locals and students from Oxford's two universities met at Brookes to march down to the evening's main rally at Carfax.
One fresher from Jesus College who participated in the afternoon's die-in told The OxStu: "It's a disgrace that taxpayers are financing the hospitality of a man responsible for an immoral war". Another claimed that the die-in had been "a great success in showing our opposition to Bush's visit."
Similar protests have been emulated across the country following the President's arrival at Heathrow on Tuesday night, with local groups such as Stop the War Coalition and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament working in association, as was evident in Oxford.
The country's main event takes place today in central London, where several Oxford students have travelled down to join tens of thousands for five hours of planned marching, before the pulling down of a Bush statue at Trafalgar Square.
A Guardian/ICM poll also suggested that 36 per cent of citizens were against his stay, however President Bush told BBC's Breakfast with Frost that he would be unmarred by the planned protests.
13th Nov 2003