Human rights campaigners have disrupted a speech by leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, calling on him to demand stronger action in parliament against the ongoing war in Syria.
Demonstrators led by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell stood in front of Corbyn on Saturday, holding up banners with slogans including, “Step up and demand action in Syria” and “End the suffering in Aleppo.”
Corbyn halted his speech when Tatchell shouted over him that “hundreds of thousands of life are at risk. We expect the leader of the Labour Party to speak out.”
“We haven’t heard the leader of the Labour Party speak out enough to demand UK air drops to besieged civilians who are dying in their thousands,” he added.
Corbyn in response said his party made it clear that it opposed the war in Syria and had called for an end to the conflict.
He said that “we do think the bombing should end, we do think there should be a ceasefire, we do think there should be a political solution, we do think the war should end in Syria."
In October, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the West was considering broader military operations against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to protect what he called “the Syrian opposition.”
Syrian troops, backed by the Russian air power, are rapidly tightening the noose around foreign-backed militants. The government now controls more than 90 percent of the flashpoint city of Aleppo.
The US and its allies have been pushing for a halt to military operations in the face of Syrian army advances in militant-held areas. Western and Middle Eastern backers of militants were meeting in Paris on Saturday to discuss the situation.
The UN General Assembly voted on Friday to demand an immediate ceasefire in Syria and allow urgent humanitarian aid access throughout the country.
The United Nations estimates that up to 100,000 people are trapped in areas held by militants in eastern Aleppo, where they have little or no access to food, water or medical care. There are also people who trapped all around the country without any access to humanitarian aid. According to the UN figures, at least one million people, more than half of them children, are living under siege across the country.
A US-led coalition has been conducting a so-called anti-terror campaign in Syria for more than two years.
However, they have done little to stop the Takfiri terrorists; instead their air raids have killed many civilians, and caused extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure.
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