Iraq War Protest 2003: When Two Million People Got it Right And Tony Blair Got It Horribly Wrong

On February 15, 2003, more than two million protesters took to the streets of London to ask the British government not to invade Iraq.

Streams of protesters from around 250 countries arrived in the capital, along with high-profile speakers like Rev Jesse Jackson, who led chants of ‘give peace a chance, keep peace alive’.

Years on, the release of the Chilcot inquiry casts a new light on the mistakes Tony Blair’s made in deciding to invade Iraq.

Photographer Valerio Berdini has chosen this exact moment to release a series of black and white photos that show the 2003 event unravelling.

Reflecting on the Chilcot report, Valerio said: “Several years and hundreds of thousands of innocent deaths later, history tells where is the truth. The proof was faked, the weapons of mass destruction never existed. The threat of terrorism is now on the rise and Iraq is in a much more difficult situation to Saddam’s era.”

The photos show events on February 15 along with moments captures from several other protests over the following months in 2003.