Anti-war protesters 'greet' Blair arrival
Updated on 29 January 2010
Hundreds of anti-war protesters waving banners and chanting slogans massed outside the Chilcot inquiry intent on giving Tony Blair a hot reception this morning.
They were to be disappointed - as his car swept into the Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre by a side entrance. But almost seven years since the invasion - more than two since he left office - the personal animosity of the protesters against Tony Blair shows no sign of abating.
Many of the demonstrators - crammed by police into a pen outside the neighbouring Central Hall, Westminster - were wearing T shirts with the slogan "Jail Tony". One group wore Blair masks, had their hands smeared in fake blood and carried a dummy coffin. Most joined in the chant: "Blair lied - thousands died".
Their frustration at not being able to vent their anger directly at their quarry was palpable.
"This cowardly and deceitful entrance is typical of how the former prime minister sold the war to the country - behind the backs of the public," said Andrew Murray, one of the protest organisers.
More Channel 4 News coverage of the Iraq war inquiry
- Iraq inquiry: day by day
- Tony Blair: road to the Iraq inquiry
- How Blair's war shattered Iraqi lives
- Iraq: 'I am grateful to Mr Blair'
Another - Lindsey German of the 'Stop the War' coalition - said: "Sliding in by a back door entrance is typical of his lies, deceit and evasion.
"He doesn't have the decency or honesty to face up to the public, military families and Iraqis who will be here today in huge numbers to show their opposition to the war."
Unlike many of the relatives of soldiers killed in the conflict, who had been allocated seats in the inquiry or a nearby overflow room with a live feed of the events, this group was confined to shouting from margins - inaudible to those inside, but only too visible to the cameras and photographers who were massed in almost equal numbers outside the building.
Andrew Murray said that he expected more than 1,000 people to join the demonstration during the day - and that they would represent the two million who joined the anti-war protests in London at their peak in 2003.
And they continued to demand that the former prime minister should face not the mannered probing of the Chilcot panel, but a full-scale trial for what they saw as his "war crimes".
Saba Jaiwad, from an Iraqi anti-war group, said his fellow Iraqis had suffered "appalling consequences" as a result of the conflict. "Tony Blair should not be here giving his excuses for the illegal war," he said. "He should be taken to The Hague to face criminal charges, because he has committed crimes against the Iraqi people."
As the former PM began his evidence inside, the protesters turned their backs to the QEII to listen to a reading of the names of civilians and military personnel killed in Iraq.
The father of James Cartwright, a British soldier killed in Iraq, spoke to Channel 4 News about why did has decided not to attend the inquiry.
"I don’t believe anything will come of it," he said.
"The intensions might be good but Tony Blair isn't going to be bought to book for anything at all.
Mr Cartwright added that he felt Tony Blair and the then government let British soldiers down.
"He basically let British soldiers down in Iraq," he said.
"They should have had the resources for the soldiers. They were let down - my son told me so."
