London vigil for Fallujah refugees

Christian peace campaigners will be joining a night-long vigil in Parliament Square this Wednesday, to draw attention to the fact that while the bombing of Fallujah has ended - many thousands of people from the city are now homeless and surviving in freezing conditions without shelter. According to figures compiled by the International Organisation on Migration (IOM), more than 200,000 refugees from Fallujah have yet to return and 'many are in desperate need of aid, with temperatures in Iraq heading towards freezing' (Reuters, 2 December). A spokesman for the organisers of the vigil, Voices in the Wilderness, said: "If and when they do return to their devastated city they will have their finger prints taken, their retinas scanned, be forced to wear special ID badges, and possibly be dragooned into 'work battalions' to clear the rubble created by the recent assault." The first refugees are likely to be returned to Fallujah on Christmas Eve. If you would like to join the vigil under tarpaulin in Parliament Square, bring: warm clothing, candles, food to share and appropriate placards and banners. For more info. contact Voices in the Wilderness UK: 0845 458 2564 (local rate call) or e-mail voices@voicesuk.org Source: VIW