'It is simple: we do not want war'

The tens of thousands of people who had came to Glasgow to demonstrate against a war on Iraq were not the usual collection of pacifists, rabble-rousers or anarchists.

Instead, veteran activists rubbed shoulders with company executives who had never attended a demonstration before. Gathered together waving their flags and unfurling their banners were an incongruous collection of doctors, students, teachers, managers, pensioners and parents with young children.

As they assembled in Glasgow, coming from as far afield as Teesside in the north of England and Aberdeen, their counterparts in the most far-flung corners of Scotland were staging their own protests.

In Dumfries anti-war protesters used the words of Robert Burns to express their message. A poster was placed on the statue of the bard in the centre of the city. It read: "Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn."

At just after 2pm, when Tony Blair had been due to address the Labour party spring conference at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), the crowd roared, whooped, and screamed.

While they could not drown out the words of the Prime Minister, who had taken the decision to give his speech at 10.30am, they were determined to make their point that his arguments for a war against Iraq had not persuaded them.

Police estimated the assembled protesters numbered approximately 27,000 to 30,000 people. Organisers put the figure at nearer 100,000.

Hundreds of yellow-jacketed police officers had formed a barrier between the demonstration and the conference centre, anticipating trouble. But the event was largely peaceful, with police reporting just four arrests.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that there was little trouble; this was ‘middle Scotland’ on the march.

Protester after protester said they had never been to an anti-war rally before but had been galvanised in to action because they did not believe that Blair and US President George Bush had made the case for war.

Simon Evans, 41, a consultant physician from Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, said he and 30 others had travelled from the village of Cromarty such was their strength of feeling. He said he was amazed by the number of people in the crowd.

"If you just look at the range of people who are here it really is inspiring. There are lots of people here who haven’t been on a demo before. I was a Labour party member but I just became sick of the hypocrisy of hearing people like the US president saying they are defending justice and freedom by what they are doing.

"It made me feel we should do something about it. It is not just the usual suspects who are here today."

Helen Webster, 35, a part-time teacher who is expecting a baby, made with journey with him. "This demonstration has pulled in people from all corners of Scotland because people feel so strongly about this and our government is not representing the majority of people’s views," she said.

Sandy Devers, 42, from Carmunnock, a clinical development manager with NHS Lanarkshire, his wife Carol and two children Rowan, four, and Paul, eight, were among the families who marched from Glasgow Green to show their opposition to the war.

He said: "As a family we just felt we had to make a stand."

"I am not a pacifist and I am a New Labour man. I’ve always been very impressed by Tony Blair’s drive. "But on this issue he’s gone one step too far and I think he’ll pay the ultimate price at the ballot box."

The first protesters had gathered early in the morning at Glasgow Green, where they were joined by a steady stream of like-minded demonstrators. They snaked through Glasgow’s High Street, George Square, St Vincent Street, and down Finnieston Street before arriving at the SECC. The marchers were headed by SNP leader John Swinney and Lord Provost Alex Mosson.

Yesterday the Scottish Coalition for Justice Not War hailed the demonstration as a "massive success". Coalition organiser Elinor McKenzie said: "We were expecting a big turnout but this has exceeded all expectations. It is absolutely wonderful."

Mosson condemned Blair’s decision to give his speech before demonstrators had had time to assemble as "cowardly". "He knows that ordinary people do not want war."

Swinney added: "The people of Scotland can see through the hypocrisy of Blair and Bush. We do not want war. The message is simple."

Commenting on the demonstration, a Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: "We estimate that between 27,000 and 30,000 people attended."

The unexpected size of the demonstration put pressure on Scotland’s transport system and there were chaotic scenes on parts of the rail network. At Waverley station in Edinburgh hundreds of protesters were prevented from travelling to the demonstration due to overcrowding on trains.

A ScotRail spokesman said: "We did plan for this and we did put on additional capacity where we could, but putting it bluntly, the number of people has been away and beyond what we anticipated."

Those who chose not to go to Glasgow, or were unable to get there, staged their own protests. In Portree, on the Isle of Syke, up to 150 staged an anti-war demonstration. In Inverness around 200 people took part in a rally. Meanwhile, more than 600 people marched through Lerwick in the biggest demonstration seen in Shetland in more than a decade.

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