Protest at decade of Iraq sanctions

Campaigners say sanctions devastated Iraqi society

The 10th anniversary of economic sanctions being imposed on Iraq will be marked on Monday with a protest at the Foreign Office in London.

Around 200 protesters dressed in black are expected to join the symbolic "die-in" to protest at the number of people who they say have died in Iraq because of the sanctions.

The sanctions policy has devastated Iraqi society

Bishop of Brentwood

Campaigners say the international sanctions, imposed in 1990 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, have caused "terrible hardship" on Iraqi people while having little effect on Saddam Hussein.

The peaceful demonstration comes at the end of a weekend of protests, which saw one campaigner climb the Millennium Wheel before being talked down by police on Sunday.

Dave Ralston, from Narberth in west Wales, spent an hour and a half on the 450ft-high tourist attraction, situated on the bank of the river Thames.

The 53-year-old is a member of a group called Voices in the Wilderness, which campaigns against economic sanctions against Iraq.

'Heavy penalty'

Green MEP Caroline Lucas and former Oxfam director Reggie Norton are due to attend the protest at the government offices in King Charles Street, as is Martin Newell, a Roman Catholic priest in the Brentwood diocese.

The demonstration has been backed by Pax Christi, the international Catholic movement for peace, and has the support of the Anglican Archbishop for Wales, Dr Rowan Williams, playwright Harold Pinter, and comedian and writer Jeremy Hardy.

It also has the support of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brentwood, the Rt Rev Thomas McMahon.

Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990

"The sanctions policy has devastated Iraqi society," he said in a statement.

"For 10 years the ordinary members of society have paid an appalling heavy penalty for decisions and actions over which they had no control.

"The impact on the Iraqi health service and upon availability of basic necessities has cost the lives of many people, and particularly the lives of children."

Police said Mr Ralston was not arrested on Sunday because his actions were civil trespass, making the incident a matter for British Airways, the owners of the £35m wheel.

A BA spokeswoman said no decision had been taken on whether to press charges.