IRAQ CRISIS: STUDENTS at Chippenham schools walked out of their lessons on Thursday March 20 to protest against the war with Iraq.

More than 40 pupils from Sheldon School, Hardenhuish School and Wiltshire College protested on the Bridge Centre roundabout all day.

The protest started with four pupils from Sheldon School, but soon escalatedas more people joined the protest along the way.

One 16-year-old said: "Just because we are young doesn't mean our opinions don't matter. We are not old enough to vote so this is our only way of making ourselves heard."

"We think the war is a more important issue than missing a few lessons," said Zoe Hatherell, 17, from Hardenhuish School.

The pupils from Sheldon School first went to Hardenhuish sixth form and then to Wiltshire College to pick up more protesters.

After making their anti-war signs they began protesting outside Hathaway Retail Park at 9am.

They stood shouting 'stop the war', waving banners and encouraging cars to sound their horns. But the police soon moved them on because they were causing disruption to the flow of traffic. The students then moved on to the Bridge Centre site and were greeted by supportive cheers from passing drivers.

Colin Smith, the headteacher of Hardenhuish School said the protesters would not be punished for missing lessons and staff had talked to them about their action.

"If students take a moral standpoint I am proud of them. It is important that they think about these issues independently and demonstrate their feelings in the most appropriate way, said Mr Smith.

Demonstrators rallied in Calne during the lunchtime and evening rush hour to protest against the invasion of Iraq on the day Britain went to war.

Members of John Bentley School's sixth form held banners emblazoned with "Don't attack Iraq" and "War solves nothing" and chanted anti-war slogans when they staged a protest outside the library at lunchtime last Thursday.

In the evening dozens more people, including mums, elderly people and a contingent of school girls from St Mary's School, in Calne, congregated in the centre of town.

The 15 protesters from John Bentley, aged between 16 and 17, said they were given permission to leave their lessons as long as they made clear their protest did not reflect the view of the school.

Protest organiser Emily Maiden, 16, said: "We don't believe the moral case for this war or that there's been enough evidence to support it.''

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