Source: Reuters
[alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22266919.htm]
On July 22, 2006 Reuters reported, "Thousands of demonstrators marched through London and hundreds more gathered in Amsterdam and Chicago on Saturday to protest against Israeli attacks in Lebanon and the refusal of the U.S. and British governments to condemn them. Police said around 7,000 people joined the London protest as it snaked from the banks of the Thames to Hyde Park, first in brilliant sunshine and then in torrential rain. Many carried red and white Lebanese flags and placards condemning 'Israeli crimes in Lebanon.' 'We are all Hizbollah. Boycott Israel' read one. 'Axis of evil: Bush, Blair, Olmert,' read another, referring to the political leaders of the United States, Britain and Israel. 'Having seen the devastation on our TV screens in recent days, it's impossible to view the Israeli response as anything other than a gross overreaction,' said Yasmin Ataullah, spokeswoman for the British Muslim Initiative, one of the groups behind the rally. Hundreds more protesters took to the streets of Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Sheffield. In the United States, several hundred demonstrators gathered in bright sunshine in downtown Chicago for a rally to protest Israeli military actions in Lebanon and Gaza."