Kirkby times can
report that were protests by School Pupils in Liverpool City Center today Weds 20
March 2003. The Pupils walked out of lessons to protest at the news of the Iraq
War starting off in earnest at around 2.45 am early this morning, early dawn in
Iraq.
Pupils Block Roads
The pupils were said to number between 250 and 300 and the protests
began at 1.00pm when it became apparent to Merseyside Police that large
numbers of the protestors blocking roads at Mount Pleasant/Brownlow Hill
were pupils aged between 12 to 15 according to Police spokesman Superintendent
Alan Cooper who said on Radio Merseyside that "Officers noticed many protestors
in uniform" and also said that they were "Obviously truanting" However, a lot
of parents support their kids making a stand and will not agree with Supt Alan
Cooper.
Police very unhappy at events
Some pupils from Calderstone School denied 'truanting' and said that
the school has told pupils "those with notes could attend protests", however,
many pupils admitted to not having permission from the school and one pupil
told the media that 'they just walked out" and that they "wanted to do what
they could to stop this war" Supt Cooper was at pains to present reasons
that kids should not protest at Iraqi Children being murdered, one of the
reasons kids should not be protesting, he claimed , was because "they could
fall victim to unscrupulous characters who will subject them to be victims
of crime" Er, what? Are you saying 300 kids are going to preyed on by
perverts or something? Maybe Supt Cooper may be as well to just go after
the unscrupulous characters which he admits are out there on his patch.
Headmaster tries to accuse political groups of 'using' kids
Brian Davies the Head Teacher of Calderstone School, one of
the schools who took part in the protests, told the local radio that "Some
of these children will be exploited for political ends by political groups".
One thing's for sure, Tony Blair would use these Pupils, and is maybe using
some of their older brothers as cannon fodder which may well be said to be
'political exploitation' of the very worse sort. Kirkby Times is sure pupils
will be able to make there own minds up as to whether or not to take part
in protests or join political groups. We should be glad our kids have an
interest in such matters.
Civil Disobedience
Councillor Paul Klein of Liverpool Education Authority was sympathetic
as to the reasons that the kids protested and walked out of lessons.
He reminded people that every generation had its own things to stand
up for and it was, in some ways, refreshing to hear someone in a position
of authority show some compassion to these kids and an understanding as
to why they have done what they done. The Police were not happy atall
with these protests, but as we all know the Police are only happy if
protesters behave like a herd of polite sheep. Now is not the time
for polite protests, we've been down that road and it never worked.
The only route left, as protesters and Police will soon discover,
is Civil Disobedience. Many of us, who are going to London on Saturday,
do so to cause as much noise etc as possible. The time
for niceties is over. We cannot allow our Government to Kill children
in our name.
To all the pupils involved in today's protests, Kirkby times salutes you.
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