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PRESS RELEASE
29 May 2003

Brian Haw Parliament Square peace protest is two years old

This weekend Brian Haw will be marking the 730th day of his permanent 24 hour peace vigil opposite the Houses of Parliament in Parliament Square. This anniversary makes Mr Haw's protest one of the longest-lasting individual public protest of modern times.

When he started in June 2001, Mr Haw, a father of seven from Worchestershire, had only a few signs bearing the names of young children who had died as a result of economic sanctions on Iraq. He supplemented these with carefully painted banners pointing out to both the politicians and the public the huge suffering that the sanctions policy, supported by the UK government supported, inflicted on the people of Iraq.

Over the months, people began to visit him and bring placards they themselves had made. With the events of 11 September 2001 and the declaration of the 'war on terrorism', Brian's protest grew in size and reputation. He has had numerous visitors from all over the world, many leaving placards with messages of peace, helping to create what is now a powerful display which challenges the government's foreign policy. The international media have broadcast his message around the world in documentaries, news reports and interviews.

In October 2002 he won a major legal victory when the High Court refused to grant an injunction to Westminster Council to remove him from Parliament Square. The judge ruled that Mr Haw was exercising his right to freedom of speech and the pavement obstruction was not unreasonable.

Mr Haw said, "I have had the people of the world on this pavement. Peace is more popular than Parliament."

He added "Contrary to the hopes of the government that protest will end now that the war on Iraq is said to be over, I will not go away. Its not over for people in Iraq - thousands more of the people are now dead and the occupiers are still there. I feel so incensed - we are talking about dropping bombs on people, on murdering people. Its not enough to say we don't mean to - it doesn't make it alright. And the murderers are allowed to profit from
their crimes. How can humanity, the world, allow this blatant smash and grab?

"They went ahead no matter how much people protested and we are now being asked to just accept it. I can't accept it. Here is a picture of a little girl with the back of her head blown off. All you have to do is put yourself in the place of this girl's parents. They will never thank us for 'liberating' them. And now we have 'saved' them, we are selling them water."