The World Condemns the USA
Thirteen U.S. Embassies and Consulates Forced to Close
Hector Carreon
La Voz de Aztlan
Los Angeles, Alta California - March 21, 2002 - (ACN) As the USA brutal "Shock and Awe" military onslaught continues against Iraq and on its capital Baghdad, international condemnation is, at the same time, growing angrier and louder. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported earlier today that the U.S. State Department has now closed 13 embassies and consulates around the world as protests become larger and more violent. More closures are imminent as the number of Iraqi civilian casualties become widely known.
U.S. embassies in Amman, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Damascus, Kabul, Oslo, Pretoria, Nairobi, Riyadh, Almaty and Skopje were closed, state department officials said. In addition, the U.S. consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa was closed and the consulate in Durban was briefly evacuated after a bomb scare, the officials said. In Paris, the embassy remained open but the consular section was closed to all but emergency services for U.S. citizens, the officials said. Other U.S. posts reporting protests at their missions were Ankara, Bern, Budapest, The Hague, Kiev, Lisbon, Madrid, Malta, Moscow, Nicosia, Prague, Rome and Vienna. They added the closure list was partial and that other missions might be shut or closed to the public in the coming hours or days.
The US bombing of Iraq has been widely condemn by the governments of major nations that includes France, Russia, Germany, China and Mexico. Also, the Vatican has condemn Bush Jr. and his administration for what it says are "crimes against humanity". German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said, "The wrong decision was taken, the logic of war has won out against the chances for peace. Thousands of people will suffer terribly." Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the deputy prime minister of Malaysia, called the attack "a black mark in history." "A large and powerful nation ... has launched an attack against a sovereign state that has a diminished capacity to defend itself," he said.
In addition to the condemnation of governments, there have been major violent protests in many countries throughout the globe and within the USA itself.
Hundreds of thousands of international protesters rallied on the streets and squares, staged job walkouts and shouted their anger in a chorus meant to warn the Bush administration of increasing international outrage. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, thousands of protestors took to the streets and blocked major boulevards to traffic. Bigger demonstrations are in the planning for the weekend throughout the USA.
In Germany, thousands of students ditched class to gather and yell slogans popular during protests against the Vietnam War. Italian activists blocked highways and sat on train tracks. Marchers in Paris chanted, "Bush, Blair, assassins!" Spanish cities such as Seville flew the flag at half-staff, in defiance of their government's support of the United States. In Australia more than 10,000 people marched through Sydney to declare "No blood for oil" and "Shame" to their prime minister, John Howard, while 20,000 rallied in Melbourne. In Greece, more than 100,000 demonstrators marched on the U.S. Embassy in Athens to accuse Americans of being killers and more than 11,000 people marched to the U.S. Consulate in the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki, while 10,000 rallied outside the British Consulate in the western port of Patras.
In Cairo, Egypt, Hundreds of thousands of people marched on the American embassy in protest. The violent clash in Cairo saw demonstrators hurling stones and metal barricades as they tried to get to the US Embassy. The police in the Egyptian capital had to use water cannons to keep about 1,000 stone-throwing demonstrators, mainly students from the American University in Cairo, from reaching the U.S. Embassy. Soon, demonstrators broke through and more than 2,000 people were surrounded by the police. Demonstrators shouted ``Down with Arab leaders!'' and ``Leave, leave Mubarak!'' in reference to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak - an indication of the anger many Arabs feel toward their own governments for failing to act strongly enough to avoid war. By late afternoon, about 5,000 people had regrouped in downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square. As they set out again toward the embassy, police sprayed them with soapy blue water and stone-throwing resumed. Amira Howidi, an Egyptian journalist, said many students appeared to have been injured and predicted larger demonstrations today, after Friday prayers. "I expect a high turnout," she said. "But I also expect the police to be even more nervous and strict." she added.
Violence also erupted in Manila, Philippines. Police used shields and truncheons to disperse about 300 anti-war activists trying to approach the U.S. Embassy, injuring at least 12 demonstrators, protest leaders said. In Italy, an estimated 45,000 people turned out in Milan. Police in Rome blocked anti-war demonstrators marching up Via Veneto toward the U.S. Embassy, while tens of thousands of students, workers and other Italians blocked highways and train tracks elsewhere. More than 15,000 protesters marched through Dhaka, Bangladesh, chanting anti-U.S. slogans and burning American and British flags. In Mexico City and other cities tens of thousands rallied and demonstrated against the war on Iraq. One sign in Mexico City read "Stop Bush the Gringo Hitler".
In Palestine in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun protestors shouted "Death to America, death to Bush," and "We will sacrifice our soul and our blood for Saddam". The Palestinian Hamas movement condemned the attack as "the beginning of a new American colonization in the region which won't be limited to Iraq". Hamas said that the attack on Iraq is only the beginning of the Israeli and US effort to enslave all of Islam.
Second Woman: Because they are disemboweling the whole world!
