Anti-war protest at NATO's summit in Edinburgh

14 November 2009

Politicians, families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, trade unions, students and anti-nuclear groups joined the No To NATO protest on Saturday 14 November 2009, called by Stop the War Scotland.

The protest even involved some delegates from the annual Nato summit taking place in the city. They joined their fellow legislators inside the city's conference centre, after marchers passed outside.

Joan Humphreys, whose grandson Kevin Elliott, a 24-year-old Black Watch private, was killed in Afghanistan in August, addressed the crowd. She called for British troops to be returned home.

Mrs Humphreys, from Dundee, said: "I would like the troops to come home walking - not on stretchers or in body bags."

Police barricades kept demonstrators about 300 yards away from the entrance to the conference centre in Morrison Street. The marchers stopped at the barricades, chanting and letting off flares.

Pete Cannell, of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "The only solution has to be a political one, but we need the troops out now to make the space for that political solution."

The rally was addressed by Rae Street, of the CND international committee, who said: "Nato is not a peace group - it's a military alliance, and nothing proves that more than the number of casualties coming back almost daily from Afghanistan."