Several hundred protesters staged an angry protest against a visit by Colin 
Powell to Glasgow on Monday night despite the hostile weather.

Powell was at the Hilton Hotel to help raise money for the Jewish National 
Fund, an openly racist and Zionist organisation that helps spread illegal 
Israeli settlements on Arab land.

As guests began arriving at the hotel, they were given a hostile reception 
by demonstrators – many waved Palestinian flags and shouted "shame, shame" 
at the well heeled guests as they arrived in cars.
Some protestors chanted: “Die, Sharon, Die,” and, “A slow painful death to 
Sharon.”

The most popular chants however were “Resist, Resist, Colin Powell’s a 
terrorist” and “Victory to the Intifada!”

Powell arrived earlier in the afternoon, before most of the protesters 
arrived, but that did not dampen the fury of the crowd.

Eventually we managed to block a part of the road, entirely peacefully and 
full of good humour.

The police were caught out but soon forced us back to the pavement where we 
listened to speeches and took stock of what we’d achieved.

In attendance, were a healthy mix of black and white, young and old, 
students and workers.

Various organisations were represented including the Scottish Socialist 
Party, Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and the Stop The War 
Coalition – even Communist Party flags were flying.

Some people were there to protest against the war in Iraq, others against 
the CIA torture flights but everyone was united against the Israeli 
occupation of Palestinian land.

One group of Glasgow University students wore orange boiler suits in 
solidarity with prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, while a large bunch of folk had 
red paint on their hands to symbolise the blood dripping from the hands of 
our world leaders and of the fundraising guests.

Overall, this was a very successful protest and many felt emboldened by its 
militancy and anger.

Everyone is now looking forward to descending on London to demonstrate on 
March 18 to remember the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and to 
step up the demands to get the troops out now and ending the occupation of 
Iraq.