Successful Hugo Blanco Demonstration

The protest picket called last Saturday 3rd December, outside the Peruvian Embassy was a modestly successful demonstration. Nearly thirty people participated. For over an hour the picket paraded outside the Embassy, carrying colourful picket boards with such slogans as "Three Years in Jail Before Trial", "Free Hugo Blanco", “Demand No Death Sentence For Hugo Blanco". These attracted considerable attention from people passing by, many of whom stopped to ask about Hugo Blanco. Several of those who stopped signed the letter of protest (see below) which was handed into the Embassy at the conclusion of the picket. The fact that this demonstration clashed with a number of other events in London meant that many people who would have supported it were not able to attend. The organiser had had many messages of support from people not able to attend. Despite the short notice, and the other difficulties, the demonstration was supported by a wide strata of the labour movement. Supporters of "Labour Worker", "}filitant", "Irish Militant" and "The Week" all came along, and so did students from LSE, This made it a real united front protest of the left. . This demonstration must be the start of a full campaign within the Labour movement to protest at the sentence on Hugo Blanco, and the threat of death now hanging over him.