Demo will call for end to occupation of Iraq

News desk A DEMO will be held in Palma on Saturday, to call for an end to the occupation in Iraq. It will be part of a world-wide protest organised for the first anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. In Majorca, it has been organised by the Committee for Democracy and Social Globalisation. Spokesman Josep Juárez said that the protests had been proposed by the Social Forum in the United States and was ratified by the World Social Forum held recently in Bombay. The march, which will also pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist massacre in Madrid, will start at the Plaza de España at 6pm and end in the Borne, where a manifesto will be read. Juárez said that the demonstration will remember the victims of terrorism, “those of Madrid and further away” because, he said, in their opinion, opposition to the war and to terrorism “form an inseperable unit.” The organisers of the demo in Palma are calling not only for the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, but also the withdrawal of Spanish firms which have signed contracts with the occupying forces, and want the money which is being spent on the occupation to be used instead for “an aid plan aimed at the civilian population.” Juarez said that before the war, the Iraqis had been the victims of “more than 20 years of dictatorship and aggressions by the West,” and so in addition to recovering their sovereignty, they deserved to be compensated for so much suffering. The organisers claim they have contributed to setting up a social debate, which matured “when Spaniards understood the relation between the war and the Madrid attacks and applied their conclusions to the general elections held last Sunday.”