More than 100 people gathered in Exeter city centre to protest.
Campaigners against bombing Syria have staged a demonstration in Exeter city centre.
Around 150 people gathered in Bedford Square urging the government not to conduct airstrikes in the country.
Protesters took to the streets on Tuesday evening ahead of a planned vote in parliament on whether to start bombing Islamic State militants in Syria.
They waved placards and banners saying: ‘Don’t Bomb Syria’ and ‘Stop! No More War’ as they expressed their opposition to the proposed conflict.
The event was called on Monday evening by local groups claiming the UK will be led into another war that will not achieve its aims.
Organiser Lizi Allnatt said: “We can’t sit at home, so we’ve come out onto the streets to show our opposition to what’s going on.
“I don’t think military action will work and it’s exactly what ISIS want. It’s inhumane to bomb civilians who are in the middle of a war, and will only cause more problems for us and them. Whenever the governments say they are targeted bombs civilians always die.
“I spoke to a Syrian today who said his family are completely surrounded in a war zone waiting for bombs to come down. It makes a different for us to be here. It’s important for us to stand up, talk up and do what we believe in.”
Local Quaker Ghee Bowman said “The attacks on Paris were horrific and should be condemned, but bombing Syria will not stop terrorism. This is a kneejerk reaction by our politicians: we need to train our politicians to control their knees.”
Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw has indicated support for the government plans, which are expected to be debated and voted on tomorrow.
City activists have urged him to change his “disgraceful” stance.
Exeter resident Richard Bradbury warned of a “very real danger” of civilian casualties.
He added: “Cameron says modern smart bombs will cause ‘minimum collateral damage’, but hundreds of civilians have already been killed by coalition bombs.”
Last month Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was criticised by Mr Bradshaw for refusing to support police shooting dead marauding terrorists.
Mr Corbyn said he was “not happy” that armed officers and special forces had an order to kill fanatics to bring an atrocity to an end. In response Mr Bradshaw tweeted: “Please tell me it’s not true Jeremy has said that faced with Kalashnikov wielding genocidal fascists our security forces should not shoot.”
Similar protests have taken place across the country with tens of thousands of people making their voices heard. A list of UK celebrities, including actor Mark Rylance and comedian Frankie Boyle, wrote a letter to David Cameron urging him not to bomb Syria.
They said a bombing campaign would not help in the fight against terrorism, but would rather aggravate the situation.
Source: Express & Echo
