Brussels protest: 'Bush is not welcome!'

"Bush is not welcome!" That was the message here on Feb. 20-22 from the Bel gian peace movement, progressive groups and a good portion of the population.

U.S. President George W. Bush arrived here the evening of Feb. 20 to try to mend the relations with his imperialist allies in Western Europe that he had shattered by unilaterally launching the war on Iraq in 2003. How much he offered the government leaders is still an open question. He offered nothing to the European working class, youth and students.

Brussels: Anti-Bush demonstrators take their protest to the steps of the stock exchange.

And they came out to show him what they thought of him on the first day in symbolically just the right place: the bourse or stock exchange in downtown Brussels, a marketplace for international capital.

On the steps outside the distinguished old building 1,000 people gathered, young and old, Belgian-born and immigrant. The BRussells Tribunal and the StopUSAggression anti-war group brought signs giving 20 examples of countries the Pentagon has bombed since 1945. To them, Bush is a war criminal, but not the only one.

Their message to European leaders was, "Don't follow Bush into Iraq or into any new wars against Iran or Syria or North Korea."

A representative of the Troops Out Now Coalition in the U.S. told protesters about plans for demonstrations there on March 19 and of the growing resistance among GIs to participating in the occupation of Iraq.

Following the demonstration, hundreds from the crowd, which was mostly youths, overstuffed a local theater for an evening of political discussion and cultural events. This included a talk by Francois Houtard, an elder statesperson of intellectual opposition to U.S. aggression and a key motivator of the World Social Forum.

The next day there was a massive police presence around Brussels, with many streets and metro stops blocked and schools closed for the day. It looked something like the state of siege in New York during last August's Republican National Convention.

Still, 4,000 Belgians jammed the streets across from the U.S. Embassy. They expressed their displeasure with Bush for the wars he unleashed, and also for failing to sign the Kyoto accord setting limits on the use of fossil fuels. Demonstrations around the city are also expected on Feb. 22, when Bush will be leaving for Germany.

Coordinated local protests are expected throughout Germany on Feb. 22. The following day, when Bush meets German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder in Mainz, thousands are expected to be there from all over the country--in another city under police siege.