This Saturday, about 2,000 protesters gathered in Trafalgar Square. The march, which was planned several weeks in advance, was intended as a "stop the war" protest and followed protests the previous two Saturdays against the Danish cartoons.However, following the Askari shrine bombing, the theme of the protests was overwhelmingly focussed against Sunni based terrorism. The march started from Hyde Park, proceeded along Picadilly, into Trafalgar Square. Unlike previous weeks, at least half of the protesters were female and mostly Shia Muslims.
Although there was a slight variation in the speeches given by the various Imams, the overriding consensus was that Sunni extremists were undoubtedly responsible for the attacks, with the main target of ire being the Wahhabi ideology which drives them, which suggested an implicit although unvoiced condemnation of the Saudi regime which promote its proliferation.
Yup - he knows everyfink, does Al.
He also appealed for unity and peaceful dialogue between the two sects. Imam Sayyid Mussawi, whilst following the predominantly anti-Wahhabist stance, said that the Wahhabis were actually Joooos, and not to forget that Joooos were behind everything. Another point that he made was that as UK/US were the occupying forces, they held responsibility for the security failures and should therefore leave Iraq, to allow the people to defend
Although there were one or two slogans against the cartoons, the majority of people in attendance were against the politicisation of the cartoon issue. Most of the posters depicted scenes of the destruction of the Askari mosque. There were a number of banners from the AhlulBayt society of London University. The chanted slogans were "Death to Wahhabism/Takfirism/Bin Laden/Zarqawi."
Slightly disappointed not to make the shortlist...