Version imprimableStatement on behalf of Respect
We extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives today and our heartfelt sympathy to all those who have been injured by the bombs in London.
No one can condone acts of violence aimed at working people going about their daily lives. They have not been a party to, nor are they responsible for, the decisions of their government. They are entirely innocent and we condemn those who have killed or injured them.
The loss of innocent lives, whether in this country or Iraq, is precisely the result of a world that has become a less safe and peaceful place in recent years.
We have worked without rest to remove the causes of such violence from our world. We argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the government ignoring such warnings.
We urge the government to remove people in this country from harms way, as the Spanish government acted to remove its people from harm, by ending the occupation of Iraq and by turning its full attention to the development of a real solution to the wider conflicts in the Middle East.
Only then will the innocents here and abroad be able to enjoy a life free of the threat of needless violence.
George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow
Press Statement by Fausto Bertinotti, Chair of the European Left Party
"What occurred in London is the atrocity of a barbarism. The peaceful people should mobilise"
Once again violence is upsetting the world. Any place, any city, any country may become and becomes a stage for devastation and death.
Women and men of any ethnic group, any age, any social condition are seeing their own innocent life destroyed. This is the atrocity of a barbarism. Today terrorism is upsetting London and the world. The spiral of war and terrorism is its terrifying background: they are both enemies of humanity.
Last Saturday in Edinburgh a big white-clad march has addressed a peaceful and nonviolent language against poverty and war. Now the anti-war movement should become a key player of a worldwide mobilisation against terrorism and war. Only people can stop this horrible violence.
