MARCO PANNELLA IN LONDON

THE ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST LEADER AND THE RADICAL PARTY WILL TAKE PART TO THE LONDON "DECRIMINALIZE CANNABIS MARCH" THIS SATURDAY 28th OF MARCH

London, March 27, 1998. The Italian anti-prohibitionist leader Marco Pannella will take part to the demonstration organised by the "Independent on Sunday" for the decriminalisation of cannabis. Participants will meet at midday in Hyde Park and march to Trafalgar Square, where Marco Pannella and Olivier Dupuis (MEP, Secretary of the Radical Party) will hold a speech, together with Rosie Boycott and Paul Flynn (anti-prohibitionist Labour MP).

Marco Pannella, the historical leader of the Radical Party - one of the few parties to support the legalisation of drugs -, former Italian MP and MEP, has been fighting in favour of the legalisation of cannabis for more than 20 years, starting with a public civil disobedience action when he smoked cannabis during a press conference in 1975 to be arrested and raise the debate. The Italian Parliament depenalised cannabis consumption on the same year. He then supported the foundation of CORA - Radical Anti-prohibitionist Co-ordination -, an organisation federated to the Radical Party that leads eurowide antiprohibitionist campaigns. He launched in 1995 another nonviolent campaign of civil disobedience for the legalisation of cannabis derivatives, and 8 public initiatives were undertaken with Italian, Belgian and French citizens handing out cannabis bags. In order to be prosecuted, Marco Pannella resigned from his European Parliament seat.

Emma Bonino, European Commissioner and former Secretary of the Radical Party, supports the initiative, as a well as a group of anti-prohibitionist MEPs who will take part to the march, among others Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Olivier Dupuis, Ernesto Caccavale. Supporters from Italy, Belgium and France will also join the march.

At the end of the demonstration (around 3.30 pm) Marco Pannella, together with the anti-prohibitionist MEPs, will meet the journalists during one hour for a press conference in the Charing Cross Hotel, Strand, London WC2N 5HX (just beside the Charing Cross train and tube station).

A press kit is available at the EP office, 2 Queen's Anne's Gate, room 37.

An operational meeting with the anti-prohibitionist supporters and members from the Italian community in London to plan the future actions to take on the legalisation campaign on a European level will follow.

For more information, call

+44 171 227 43 40 (Ottavio Marzocchi, Alexandre de Perlinghi - London), or +32 2 284 7198 (Paolo Atzori, Brussels).