Don’t attack Iraq: 20 years on

To mark the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq war, we have selected a series of photographs from the historic London demonstration to stop the war, which took place on 15 February 2003. 

 

The protest which culminated in a rally at Hyde Park, was jointly organised by CND, Stop the War Coalition, and the Muslim Association of Britain. Two million people turned out to oppose the war that day with crowds still arriving in the park long after the speeches had finished. It remains the biggest demonstration in British history. 

 

CND General Secretary Kate Hudson remembers: “In those terrible yet remarkable days, twenty years ago, it was the mass movement that mobilised for truth, for peace and justice; that fought to prevent the killing, to stop the war. Opposition to the war internationally was overwhelming, and tens of millions across the globe protested; we spoke for the global majority and we were, for a while, ‘the second superpower’.” Read more of Kate’s reflection here. 

 

The gallery below includes pictures from the march, as well as the key figures who took part in the rally that day, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson.