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CNN Live Today
Protests Heat Up in London in Defiance of Bush Policies
Aired November 19, 2003 - 10:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more on what John was talking about. The controversy and protesters. Our Christiane Amanpour also in London handling that part of the story for us -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, indeed, there have been quite a few protesters on the streets, although they're saying that today is a warmup for the protest that's planned tomorrow here Trafalgar Square.
But certainly, was there about a thousand people in one demonstration. There was a couple of hundred in another. Small protests taking place in various different parts of the city, some of which converged here in Trafalgar Square. And the called today an alternate state procession because according to the Secret Service of the United States, security concerns have meant that President Bush will forego the traditional horse-drawn carriage ride with the queen along the mile and through the streets of London.
So these people dressed up as look alikes. They took their own horse-drawn buggies through the streets. There was a lot of pointed references to basically opposition to America's foreign policy, particularly the war in Iraq. This was the Stop the War Coalition which had brought out those million people just before the war.
Now, there is a great deal of conflicting emotion, really, about this visit because while polls show and British people say constantly that they are definitely pro-American, that they believe implicitly in the vital nature, in the vital importance of the American-British alliance, they're saying that they just don't like this administration's foreign policy because they are afraid of what's perceived as a unilateral foreign policy.
They think -- they say that this makes things more difficult and less secure around the world. They don't like the idea that this administration uses war as its central platform. This according to polls published -- sort of trying to survey British public opinion.
So that's what's going on here. And certainly President Bush is being kept away and the demonstrators kept away from President Bush. He's unlikely to catch a glimpse of any of those protesters and he's unlikely to really meet any opposition face-to-face. He chose to not make the traditional head of state or head of government address to Parliament, instead giving that speech to a secluded audience at lunchtime today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And what about Tony Blair and his political future at this point? AMANPOUR: Well, not many people are doubting his political future right now. He still has a very fractured opposition, although there has been some sort of rallying of the troops in his party with the new conservative party leader.
But in terms of the war, in terms of how that might play out in a future election, his policies, while they were very unpopular, two- thirds of the British people opposed the war before it started, it's beginning, the numbers, to creep up a little bit in terms of his overall popularity.
Of course, it's too early to say what that might mean for a future election. But he is unpopular, but not in a catastrophic way.
KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour in London. Christiane, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 19, 2003 - 10:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more on what John was talking about. The controversy and protesters. Our Christiane Amanpour also in London handling that part of the story for us -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, indeed, there have been quite a few protesters on the streets, although they're saying that today is a warmup for the protest that's planned tomorrow here Trafalgar Square.
But certainly, was there about a thousand people in one demonstration. There was a couple of hundred in another. Small protests taking place in various different parts of the city, some of which converged here in Trafalgar Square. And the called today an alternate state procession because according to the Secret Service of the United States, security concerns have meant that President Bush will forego the traditional horse-drawn carriage ride with the queen along the mile and through the streets of London.
So these people dressed up as look alikes. They took their own horse-drawn buggies through the streets. There was a lot of pointed references to basically opposition to America's foreign policy, particularly the war in Iraq. This was the Stop the War Coalition which had brought out those million people just before the war.
Now, there is a great deal of conflicting emotion, really, about this visit because while polls show and British people say constantly that they are definitely pro-American, that they believe implicitly in the vital nature, in the vital importance of the American-British alliance, they're saying that they just don't like this administration's foreign policy because they are afraid of what's perceived as a unilateral foreign policy.
They think -- they say that this makes things more difficult and less secure around the world. They don't like the idea that this administration uses war as its central platform. This according to polls published -- sort of trying to survey British public opinion.
So that's what's going on here. And certainly President Bush is being kept away and the demonstrators kept away from President Bush. He's unlikely to catch a glimpse of any of those protesters and he's unlikely to really meet any opposition face-to-face. He chose to not make the traditional head of state or head of government address to Parliament, instead giving that speech to a secluded audience at lunchtime today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And what about Tony Blair and his political future at this point? AMANPOUR: Well, not many people are doubting his political future right now. He still has a very fractured opposition, although there has been some sort of rallying of the troops in his party with the new conservative party leader.
But in terms of the war, in terms of how that might play out in a future election, his policies, while they were very unpopular, two- thirds of the British people opposed the war before it started, it's beginning, the numbers, to creep up a little bit in terms of his overall popularity.
Of course, it's too early to say what that might mean for a future election. But he is unpopular, but not in a catastrophic way.
KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour in London. Christiane, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
