Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Thousands of protesters gathered in London and Glasgow Saturday ahead of the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, calling for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the capital, activists rallied at Trafalgar Square before marching the short distance to parliament while in Glasgow, demonstrators walked from the city centre to the Glasgow Green park on the banks of the River Clyde.

Police in London said there were 10,000 on the streets but organisers the Stop the War Coalition put the crowds at between 30,000 to 40,000.

In Glasgow, Strathclyde Police told AFP that there were between 1,000 to 1,500 protesters at the height of the march there.

A number of demonstrations are taking place around the world as the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20 approaches.

In London, where an estimated one million people marched through the streets about a month before the war in 2003, there were also calls against attacking Iran over its disputed nuclear programme and for an end to the “siege” of Gaza.

The veteran left-winger and former Labour Party lawmaker, Tony Benn, said Britain’s involvement in Iraq, where the country has 4,100 troops, and Afghanistan, where it has 7,800, had caused “devastation”.

The Green Party’s member of the European Parliament, Caroline Lucas, called for former British prime minister Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown to be prosecuted for war crimes.

“They need to know you cannot bomb your way to peace,” she said.

In Glasgow, protesters were joined by the mother of a British soldier who was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, left-wing groups and trade unions.

The Foreign Office described the protesters’ claims as “simply not accurate”, pointing to the “steady progress, particularly in terms of security” being made in Iraq and said the government had learnt from mistakes.

It argued that the NATO coalition in Afghanistan was winning the fight against the Taliban, with improvements made in education and eradication of opium crops while diplomatic efforts were ongoing to resolve the stand-off with Iran.

“No one is under any illusion that these are easy challenges but we are absolutely committed to making further progress,” a spokesman said.

(AFP)