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IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

3 MAY 2005

PROSPECTIVE MP TAKES PEACE BUS TO THE PEOPLE

Wednesday 4 May: Taking his election message out to the constituency, veteran anti-war campaigner, Brian Haw, will be touring the Cities of London and Westminster on a bus decorated with statements of international peace and justice.

Mr Haw, the Parliament Square peace protestor, who has spent nearly four years in a continuous anti-war protest vigil opposite the Houses of Parliament (1), is asserting that the war in Iraq and Britain’s foreign policy as a whole must take centre stage in the decision of who is fit to govern a civilised nation.

Mr Haw has a message that will appeal to many voters: “Our young people are sent to kill abroad. We throw away a third of our food each year while Africans starve. Our banks get rich on the poverty of other countries. We need to keep remembering that a better world is possible. Let’s start by treating our neighbour’s kids as we would treat our own. And let’s support the troops - let’s bring them home.”

Mr Haw decided to stand partly in response to the Government’s attempts to remove his protest from opposite Parliament (2). One of their last acts before the dissolution of Parliament was to pass the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act which includes a number of measures which will severely restrict protest within 1km of Parliament. Mr Haw is the main target of this part of the Act (3).

Details
The bus will depart from Tothill Street opposite Westminster Abbey at 11.30am and 2.30pm Wednesday 4 May.

Brian Haw can be visited in Parliament Square for interviews. His manifesto can be read on www.parliament-square.org.uk/candidate.htm

Or contact info@parliament-square.org.uk, www.parliament-square.org.uk.

Notes:

1. Brian Haw has been in Parliament Square continuously since 2nd June 2001 in protest against the US/UK support of economic sanctions in Iraq, the invasion of Iraq and the on-going ‘war on terror’.
2. On 4th October 2002 Westminster City Council's High Court proceedings against him for obstruction of the highway were dismissed on the grounds that Brian was exercising his freedom of expression and assembly under the Human Rights Act.
3. The text of the Act can be read at: http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/20050015.pdf