MEMBERS of Wrexham Peace and Justice Forum (WPJF) and Forward Wales took to the streets of Wrexham on Saturday to highlight the situation in Iraq.

Protesters claim that in the city of Fallujah US Marines have killed an estimated 700 people, including at least 400 women and children.

They displayed pictures from Iraq on lampposts and railings in Hope Street, among them shocking images of injured civilians and dead babies.

Campaigners handed out leaflets including accounts from peace workers in the region claiming to have witnessed atrocities such as Marines firing on ambulances and shooting women and children waving white flags.

Wrexham poet Les Barker wrote a poem after reading reports of the situation in Fallujah by a British lawyer, Jo Wilding, and his poem was reproduced in the leaflets.

Tim White of Wrexham Peace and Justice Forum said: 'It is a year since President Bush declared the war in Iraq won, but the US and UK governments still have no realistic plan for the peaceful future of the country.

'They have lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, and can only see military ways to re-impose their control.

'The so-called 'handover' due at the end of June is a sham, as the provisional Government will be composed of US appointees and will have no real power to challenge the wishes of the US/UK occupiers and commercial interests looking to get rich at the expense of the Iraqi people.'

Earlier in the week, members of WPJF displayed banners at the Plas Coch roundabout demanding an end to the continuing violence.

WPJF is also making an appeal for donations to help the residents of Fallujah.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can send cheques payable to WPJF at PO Box 661, Wrexham LL11 1QU. Write 'Fallujah' on the back of the cheque and the money will be forwarded to provide humanitarian aid.