[JNV Press Release] Peace Activists Plant Poppies on MoD Lawn to Mark Anniversary of Afghanistan Invasion

[Jonathan Stevenson]

PRESS RELEASE
The Poppy Peace Action Committee
Photos available: contact 07818 651124

PEACE ACTIVISTS PLANT POPPIES ON MOD LAWN TO MARK ANNIVERSARY OF
AFGHANISTAN INVASION.  

Sunday 7 October 2007, London:  Peace activists have planted poppy seeds
on the lawn of the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, to protest against
the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The action was timed to coincide with
the sixth anniversary of the start of the 2001 invasion, and takes place
the day before Gordon Brown’s statement to the Commons about British
troops in Iraq. The British drawdown in Iraq will coincide with further
escalation in Afghanistan.

The activist – including Maya Evans, convicted in December 2006 for
standing opposite Downing Street and reading out the names of British
soldiers killed in Iraq [1] – planted both red Flanders poppies and
white opium poppies, to highlight the devastating impact of British
intervention, including poppy eradication [2], in Afghanistan. The
protest was not authorised under the Serious Organised Crime and Police
Act, which restricts demonstrations around Parliament and the Ministry
of Defence. However, there were no arrests. 

According to the UN mission in Afghanistan, more Afghan civilians have
died at the hands of US/NATO forces in the first six months of this year
than were killed by the Taliban [3]. British forces have called in
hundreds of airstrikes in recent months, killing dozens of civilians
[4], and the British role is set to escalate still further, with reports
that all three regular battalions of the Parachute Regiment – about
2,000 troops – will be deployed there for combat [5].

One of the four activists, Susan Clarkson, said: ‘Poppies grow in soil
which has been churned up, hence the poppies seen on the battlefields of
the First World War.  Today, the smooth lawn of the Ministry of Defence
has been churned up by our poppy planting to symbolise Britain’s
responsibility for making Afghanistan into a battlefield.  As NATO
continues to rain down death from the air, we demand an immediate end to
the bombing of Afghanistan, and the withdrawal of all British troops.’

Photos available: contact 07818 651124

NOTES
[1] See ‘Acts of Defiance Against War Turned Ordinary People into
Criminals’, Independent, 8 December 2005 (http://tinyurl.com/a5ltc).
[2] Last December The Senlis Council (www.senliscouncil.net) reported
that ‘famine’ was widespread in southern Afghanistan, ‘directly
triggered by the international community‘s policies in the region’ – in
particular, ‘the devastation of Afghan villagers’ livelihoods by intense
bombing campaigns and 
 poppy eradication.’ http://tinyurl.com/yqhs3m
[3] 'Errant Afghan civilian deaths surge', LA Times, 6 July 2007,
http://tinyurl.com/2b4pww
[4]  ‘25 civilians killed in airstrike after Britons attacked’, The
Times, 23 June 2007. ‘Civilian death toll rises in bloody battle for
Helmand’, Observer, 12 August 2007, http://tinyurl.com/25k524.
[5] ‘Paras to lead spring offensive in Afghanistan’, Guardian, 6
October.
 http://tinyurl.com/2f3373