Stop Bombing Gaza NOW - Manchester Demonstration 3rd January Amazing pictures

This is a view of the march on Oxford Road - it eventually filled Albert Square as many more joined as it took a lengthy route through the city centre. Plod was exceptionally helpful and polite - the word had gone out, the last thing Mr Brown wants is a picture on the front page of the Sunday's of someone wearing a palestinian flag getting their head stove in by a beefy tooled up Plod.
Vies of two of the en route cameras, swivelling and zooming monitoring everything - plus of course the Plodcopter zizzing above.

The Yorkshire / leeds / Bradford band was playing many a jolly tune all afternoon - very Lol Coxhill ... excellent and joyous.
The Zionist six pointed star on the Albert memorial in Albert Square provides a paradoxical symbol over a crowd who loathe and despise the symbol and what it means in the Middle East.It is memory of the role of Levantine traders in Manchester who didn't make the cotton goods but traded them - and of course it's associated masonic connection in municipal politics in Manchester ever since. There was a posse of strangely shorn and garbed Talmudic men , their leader addressed the crowd and raised many cheers as he emphasised the division betwee Judaism and Zionism.
Tony Lloyd Manchester Labour MP addressed the crowd - but true humbug managed to slide in the subjunctive clause about how the Gazans, having been raped daily for years must cease struggling and give in. He had been preceded before our departure by Withington (Manchester)Liberal Democrat MP John Leech who used the same weasel words and then left for another engagement apparently mire urgent than genocide. (But he does want pensioners to have free TV licences - so they can soak up Zionist propaganda without paying).

We were promised Brian Iddon Labour MP for Bolton who is Secretary to the Britain-Palestine Group - but he didn't appear. He did appear in June 2007 at the 40th Anniversary of the Occupation of Palestine so his heart is probably in the right place even if he wasn't.

There is a humanitarian crisis Tony & John , we'll agree on that , it's in Gaza not Israel. It's caused by ;

1.The Israeli Government
2. Their massive and well eqipped army, navy, air force and various sinister secret services at work in Israel and any other places throughout the world.
2. Supported by the US Government who freely provide their vast stores of lethal weapons - including the recent supply of 1,000 GBU-39 GPS positioned bunker busters at US$77,000 a pop, 4 per F 15.
3. Supported by the silence of Governments (including the Nu Labour Government) troughout Europe.
4. Whose state controlled media - BBC or Zionist controlled media provide a conduit for the Zionist propaganda.

Before any one moans , at least for once Manchester saw some heads of MP's raised aslightly above the parapet - we want full commitment to the ending of Zionist land grabs, th destruction of property, the imprisonment of 1.5 million people, depriving them of power, water, ewage, food and medical equipment and the ability to trade by land, sea and air.

There never was a time for polite equivocation ... and there certainly isn't now. You are with or agianst the Palestinians - you cannot walk by on the other side wringing your hands.

A Muslim broadcaster had a live feed to the Middle East ... altogether a well organised demo with a massive attendance.

It has just been announced (NYT) by the IDF “large numbers of forces are taking part in this stage of the operation including infantry, tanks, engineering forces, artillery and intelligence with the support of the Israel Air Force, Israel navy, Israel Security Agency and other security agencies.”

“We have just a short while ago launched the second stage,” a spokeswoman for Israel Defense Forces Maj. Avital Leibovich, said in an interview broadcast on CNN.

She said that troops were targeting areas responsible for the launching of rockets into Israel, as well as tunnels, bunkers, and training facilities — “everything that is affiliated with Hamas is a legitimate target,” Major Leibovich said. (ie we will check out how effective those bunker busting GBU-39's were and report to our kind donors Uncle Sam)

Alex Fishman, the military analyst of the popular daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot, wrote on Friday, “Since the name of the game is killing and destruction, the ground operation has to be quick, with a lot of firepower at friction points with Hamas.” He added, “The goal is to exact a high price in the early stages of the ground operation and to end it quickly.”

In Washington Condileezza Rice soon to be ex Secretary of State said “We are working toward a cease-fire that would not allow a reestablishment of the status quo ante where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza.”