A British-born Hong Kong-based activist, Tom Grundy, interrupted Blair’s speech as he started to lecture on religion and globalization at the University of Hong Kong.
Grundy cited breeches of the Geneva Convention and other international codes while demanding a citizen’s arrest on Blair.
“I attempted a citizen’s arrest against Tony Blair today because back in 2009 he admitted he would have gone to war with Iraq regardless of the WMD’s [Weapons of Mass Destruction], and that means it’s in defiance of the Nuremburg Principles, the UN Charter, the Geneva Convention, and a pending International Criminal Court, a Rome Statute”, said Grundy after he left the auditorium being threatened with police action.
“He misled the British people, he’s caused the deaths of 100,000 people at least, and there was some obligation on Hong Kong police to actually arrest him”, Grundy added.
Antiwar protesters have repeatedly called for the trial of Blair for war crimes. Last month, a group of demonstrators interrupted a commencement speech by Blair at Colby College in Maine, the US, shouting “warmonger” and “war criminal”.
One week later, while Blair was giving evidence at an inquiry into his links with the British media, another protester managed to enter the courtroom and demanded Blair’s arrest for war crimes.
In November last, a symbolic tribunal in Malaysia found Blair and former US President George W Bush guilty for committing “crimes against peace” when they invaded Iraq.
ISH/JR/HE
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