On Sunday 19 January, as part of world-wide actions in solidarity with anti-war protests in the US marking the Martin Luther King weekend, the Victorian Peace Network called a gathering outside the offices of the US Consulate in Melbourne. In spite of the holiday season and short notice an estimate 150 people of all ages assembled to hear speeches from Damien Lawson and others detailing the case against war on Iraq and cataloguing the horrors already inflicted on the Iraqi people by the Bush-Blair axis, which the present Australian government seems hell-bent on joining.

Throughout the rally groups of people invited passing drivers to show their support:

Damien Lawson addressing the rally

People had been asked to bring their own placards:

Two views of the rally:

Reflected in the glass front of the building