Chichester’s Stop The War march seems to have been pretty well supported, perhaps more than most people (myself included) might have expected. I watch it proceed along East Street and past the Cross to the rally on the Cathedral Green. I’m not an expert at counting crowds, but I would say that there was between 750 and 1000 people there. Notable was that although the usual Chichester "cranks" were present, so were an awful lot of ordinary couples, families and pensioners – people of all ages and backgrounds – undoubtedly a good thing.
Quite a few other people gathered around the crowd at the rally, but they seemed to drift away after about fifteen minutes of speeches, probably hastened by a little light drizzle and the thought that the banks were about to close for the day.
The pity is, I really doubt that Chichester’s rally will make much difference to our illustrious leader’s desire to let off the fireworks in the Middle East.