Small, but persistent anti-war protests in Warsaw

Over 200 people protested on Friday on the Warsaw Castle Square against the war in Iraq. The demonstrators symbolically drowned an effigy of President Bush in oil. People hold banners saying "Bombs for peace, is like sex for virginity" and "Against imperialist terror". They chanted, "Put the government on the front-line" and "Drop Bush, not bombs". This was the second such protest against the armed intervention in Iraq since its beginning. On Sunday this was followed by another demonstration in front of the Presidential Palace. The protest was part of the global "Food not Bombs" initiative. In related news U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, announced in a statement that around around 200 Polish soldiers are taking an active role in the conflict. According to the IAR news agency, GROM special forces are active there. (Gazeta Wyborcza, March 22-23, p. 12; www.polskieradio.pl; www.onet.pl) M.M./A.K.