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American Morning
Protests in Great Britain
Aired November 19, 2003 - 07:20 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Down the road about a mile, Trafalgar Square, and the view outside, here's Christiane Amanpour -- on that, Christiane, good afternoon to you.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon from London, Bill.
Yes, today there are going to be some protests. But today the protests are billed as more comical, a little bit of light relief, a sort of highlighting of what is not going to happen in the formal ceremonies. Today it's going to be called an alternative state procession and already there are about a thousand or so people who are coming towards Trafalgar Square. One or two are dressed up as the president and the queen. They're riding a fake carriage. And plastered around are placards that say, "Stop Bush!"
Tomorrow is meant to be the big protest and that also will culminate in Trafalgar Square. And, again, the Stop The War coalition, which has been organizing these, thinks that it will be able to attract some tens of thousands of people. That is for tomorrow. They're calling that the big one.
But certainly, as Suzanne pointed out, there is an unprecedented security clampdown for this visit. There simply has never been this many police on the streets or this much of a security clampdown for any foreign visitor, including any previous U.S. president. There is, of course, since September 11, there has been a high alert for al Qaeda terrorist attacks here in Britain. But the police say they have had no specific threats directed at President Bush or his three day visit here.
But as I say, a lot of those police efforts are going to be to try to keep the president shielded from those protesters, which are expected to take to the streets in larger and more serious numbers tomorrow.
In such, because of such concerns, the president is eschewing some of the more traditional activities of state visit. He will not be taking a horse drawn carriage, which usually a visiting head of state does travel along the mall with the queen. He will not be giving an address to parliament, which usually, whether it's a state visit or not, foreign leaders do, including previous American presidents.
Instead, as Suzanne pointed out, there will be that foreign policy speech to a select audience at the banqueting hall not far from where I'm standing now. And it is, of course, American foreign policy, Bush's foreign policy that is causing so much unease and discomfort amongst the British public. While poll after poll continues to confirm that the British believe America to be its most important, most vital strategic alliance and continue to show a great respect and affection for America, poll after poll also shows that the British -- remember, the staunchest of American allies -- the British people are still very uncomfortable about what's perceived as a unilateral foreign policy and what's perceived as using war as a central platform of foreign policy.
So that is sort of the conflict that the British have with this current administration. And, of course, many Britons are going to be asking what do we get as payback for so staunchly supporting the British -- the American president during the Iraq war?
Just behind me, on Trafalgar Square, some of the protesters, you can see, are behind Trafalgar Square drawing a lot of police along with them and a replica of a missile. And that's just a taste of some of the things that should come later on today and tomorrow -- Bill, Soledad.
HEMMER: Christiane, thanks in London.
We won't be far.
The president talks in about an hour, again, 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
You'll see it live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired November 19, 2003 - 07:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Down the road about a mile, Trafalgar Square, and the view outside, here's Christiane Amanpour -- on that, Christiane, good afternoon to you.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon from London, Bill.
Yes, today there are going to be some protests. But today the protests are billed as more comical, a little bit of light relief, a sort of highlighting of what is not going to happen in the formal ceremonies. Today it's going to be called an alternative state procession and already there are about a thousand or so people who are coming towards Trafalgar Square. One or two are dressed up as the president and the queen. They're riding a fake carriage. And plastered around are placards that say, "Stop Bush!"
Tomorrow is meant to be the big protest and that also will culminate in Trafalgar Square. And, again, the Stop The War coalition, which has been organizing these, thinks that it will be able to attract some tens of thousands of people. That is for tomorrow. They're calling that the big one.
But certainly, as Suzanne pointed out, there is an unprecedented security clampdown for this visit. There simply has never been this many police on the streets or this much of a security clampdown for any foreign visitor, including any previous U.S. president. There is, of course, since September 11, there has been a high alert for al Qaeda terrorist attacks here in Britain. But the police say they have had no specific threats directed at President Bush or his three day visit here.
But as I say, a lot of those police efforts are going to be to try to keep the president shielded from those protesters, which are expected to take to the streets in larger and more serious numbers tomorrow.
In such, because of such concerns, the president is eschewing some of the more traditional activities of state visit. He will not be taking a horse drawn carriage, which usually a visiting head of state does travel along the mall with the queen. He will not be giving an address to parliament, which usually, whether it's a state visit or not, foreign leaders do, including previous American presidents.
Instead, as Suzanne pointed out, there will be that foreign policy speech to a select audience at the banqueting hall not far from where I'm standing now. And it is, of course, American foreign policy, Bush's foreign policy that is causing so much unease and discomfort amongst the British public. While poll after poll continues to confirm that the British believe America to be its most important, most vital strategic alliance and continue to show a great respect and affection for America, poll after poll also shows that the British -- remember, the staunchest of American allies -- the British people are still very uncomfortable about what's perceived as a unilateral foreign policy and what's perceived as using war as a central platform of foreign policy.
So that is sort of the conflict that the British have with this current administration. And, of course, many Britons are going to be asking what do we get as payback for so staunchly supporting the British -- the American president during the Iraq war?
Just behind me, on Trafalgar Square, some of the protesters, you can see, are behind Trafalgar Square drawing a lot of police along with them and a replica of a missile. And that's just a taste of some of the things that should come later on today and tomorrow -- Bill, Soledad.
HEMMER: Christiane, thanks in London.
We won't be far.
The president talks in about an hour, again, 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
You'll see it live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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