Minutes of Meeting in respect of Demonstration/Protest Sunday 20 April 2008 at the Assyrian House

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	Minutes of Meeting in respect of Demonstration/Protest Sunday 20 April 2008 at the Assyrian House Attendees: NGA ASUK ACOE BET NAHRAIN ZOWAA William Michael Dennis (Chombey) Shamasha Shmiel Tawer Michael Wilson Khnano Romael Karam Johnny Michael Nina Raphael Eva Shamouel Shami Khoshaba Miriam Jaso RK presented to the attendees the horrific situation in Iraq, the murders committed against the Assyrian people in Iraq and more recently the murders committed against Archbishop Raho of the Chaldean Catholic Church and Father Youssef Adel of the Syriac Orthodox church. RK explained NGA's idea was to organise a demonstration whilst the high profile murders is still a hot topic. RK also explained NGA ideas to involve all the churches and communities affected by these murders in order to encourage close relations between the communities and have increase in number of people attending the demonstration. It was made clear to the attendees that this is out of NGA's depth and that we need the assistance and participation of all groups in order to make this event happen. RK explained that firstly NGA want to know whether it is worth holding a demonstration/protest to this effect? Everyone present agreed that a demonstration/protest was a good idea. JM raised a point to consider- what are we demonstrating about? JM explained that we can not just protest about the killings of the priests. The issues we need to raise that were agreed by all present are the following: (1) Give back our land; (2) All the people in Syria and Jordan (who have fled Iraq) need to be recognised as refugees and be given assistance from governments; (3) Prevent infringement of elections; (4) Administrative region in Iraq; (5) Safe haven in Iraq; and (6) Political marginalisation. JM said that in order to have an impact with a demonstration we need to have people in thousands to attend (to attract media attention etc). JM also raised the issue of what name we protest under- which could impact the numbers attending from the different communities. RK and MJ explained that the feedback from the Chaldean and Syriac priests were all positive and members from the Chaldean church are ready to assist and we do not think it will be a problem attracting them. JM mentioned that it is important to involve more English people from different church communities to increase the numbers and not just stick with the Assyrian people in the communities already mentioned. JM gave a few ideas such as giving out flyers in local church's and providing a web link of the atrocities committed to the Assyrian people in Iraq in order to entice people to protest with us. RK mentioned how soon we should prepare the demonstration of a large scale. JM said that a minimum of 2 months is required. SS and ES think that 6 weeks should be sufficient. RK mentioned that a couple of members of the Chaldean and Syraic Orthodox church wanted the demonstration to take place on June 16 2008 being the date when a mass is being held at Westminster Cathedral. RK explained that having spoken with the Catholic Bishop today and mentioned this to him the Bishop said that it would be best to keep the mass and demonstration separate. JM suggested we need to have another meeting with all the people who want to be involved in this demonstration. It was agreed that a meeting will take place on Tuesday 6 May 2008 at 8pm in the Assyrian House. It was also agreed to list the names which will be suitable to use in the letter we present: (1) Iraqi Christians (all agreed this was not suitable because we are not only asking for religious rights but national rights as well); (2) Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs; (3) Assyrians (Chaldeans and Syriacs); and (4) Assyrians. JM proposed that a budget should be out in place where each group would be equally responsible. RK suggested that it should not be equal contributions because some groups do not have sufficient funds. It should be a contribution by each community and each community should be responsible for paying for coaches etc. It was agreed a meeting held on Tuesday 6 May 2008 at 8pm to discuss the following: (1) Location of demonstration? (2) Date and Time? (3) Budget? (4) Proposals. (5) Advertisement (slogans/banners). (6) Letter. (7) Name. End of meeting.

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