War talk axed over protest fears
Wednesday 6th May 2009, 5:59PM BST.
A lecture about Iraq which was due to be held in Shrewsbury this week has been cancelled amid fears a protest was planned to take place.
Major General Andrew Farquhar, a former commanding officer of Copthorne Barracks in Shrewsbury, was due to give the talk about counter-insurgency in Fallujah in Iraq at Shrewsbury High School in Town Walls on Friday.
But today John Patrick, chairman of the Friends of St Chad’s – which organised the lecture – said the event had been cancelled after a threat was received that a protest would be carried out against the Major General and over the wars in Iraq.
Mr Patrick said: “We have been told there is some sort of threat of a demonstration against him and against the Iraq wars.
“The situation is complex and we had to decide whether we should go on with this or pull it.”
He said the decision was taken last night to cancel it because the organisation’s insurance did not cover riots and if the protest turned violent the group would have to enter a “detailed legal argument”.
Proceeds from the event were due to support the work of the Friends in the restoration and preservation of St Chad’s Church.
School spokesman Ben Jason said it was “disappointed”.
He said: “We heard this morning that it was cancelled.”
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Another nail in the coffin for free speach!
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Absolutely pathetic – giving in to any one who makes a protest? Is this how we defeated the Nazi’s, the Argies and Johnny Foreigner in general?
This is a discrace to the memory of those who gave their lives in Iraq, regardless of their side.
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‘Amid fears a protest was planned to take place’?
Absolute nonsense, and cooked-up spin by those who are scared stiff of their own politically correst shadows. This missed opportunity of a lecture given by one of Britains greatest and foremost living military legends will never ever come again. In fact Major General Farquhar could be forgiven for pencilling ‘tendy town to avoid’ alongside Shrewsbury in his A – Z.
And may I bring to Kawczynski’s notice that his failure to condemn this decision does nothing to convince the Major General (who just happens to be a senior adviser on military property planning)that Shrewsbury is a suitable place for a military hospital if when full of post war patients there are protests going on outside.
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