PEACE protesters joined demonstrations around the country this weekend, calling for an end to Britain’s complicity in the US war machine.

Solidarity groups, campaigners and union leaders led rallies on Saturday in Edinburgh, London and Leeds, where thousands chanted: “We know what we’re fighting for, not another endless war!”

They took aim at Britain’s alleged tacit and “active” support in the US attack on Venezuela at the start of the month, and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

“The British government has given active and extensive military assistance in the illegal seizure of the Marina oil tanker,” Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt told a large crowd outside Downing Street.

“This involved [UK] surveillance aircrafts.  And naval vessels. And it included the use of [military] bases here in Britain.

She added: “We know that US aircraft flew from RAF Milton Hall. And we know the training in preparation for the seizure of the oil tanker took place at RAF Burford. And now, huge numbers of US aircrafts are stationed [here] again.”

Deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Simon Foster said: “There is no doubt that Keir Starmer is a coward. But the truth is that Britain has not just been an appeaser of human rights abuses, it has long been an enthusiastic participant in these abuses itself.

“From the Balfour Declaration to the illegal invasion of Iraq, the UK, just as much as Trump, believes that they should be able to rule over people on the other side of the world who do not fall into line.

“The same politicians who have cheered on the Israeli genocide in Gaza are the same politicians who have failed to stand up to flagrant breaches of international law in Venezuela.”

TUC assistant director Mariela Kohon told protesters that the International Trade Union Confederation, which represents 200 million workers around the world, has lobbied the British government on this issue.

She said: “The actions we witnessed are not only an attack on Venezuela. Trump has made it crystal clear. This is about oil.

“We have made very clear that the British government must condemn this violation of international law. You can’t pick and choose when the charter of the UN should be upheld. It must apply consistently, without exception.”

Venezuela Solidarity Campaign national secretary Francisco Dominguez thanked the protesters for joining the rally, saying: “Your decision to stand up to Donald Trump today is exactly what Keir Starmer’s government should be doing.

“Because Donald Trump will not stop states all around the world stand up to him.

“The scale of US military build-up in recent weeks is the largest in the Caribbean in decades. When they attacked Venezuela, they sent 150 military aircraft.”

“But this war has been going on against Venezuela for 25 years and against Cuba for 65 years.

“In the case of Venezuela, this has begun ever since Hugo Chavez had the courage to take Venezuela’s oil into public control.”

Protesters also gathered in front of the US consulate in Edinburgh, in a demonstration organised by Stop the War Scotland, the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), Scottish Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and the Scottish Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

In Leeds, speaking at a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine and Venezuela and organised by Leeds PSC, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “We’re horrified at the new United States national security strategy, which takes upon itself control of all of Latin America, which gives itself the right to intervene in any country around the world, whether the US wants resources.

“And now, Donald Trump apparently wants to either invade, occupy, or take over Greenland in some way. Well, if he’s gonna tear up every aspect of international law and every international convention, then there’s going to be some very difficult times ahead.

“[We must] build that global peace movement of solidarity that gives people the right to live the way they wish to live, that gives people the right to live an independent existence, and above all, gives people the right of control over their own natural resources.”

At the rally in London, Pelusa, who fled Chile after the US-backed coup in 1973, told the Morning Star: “As a Chilean who has seen what it really means when the US invades your country, I am outraged the UK has not done more to oppose Trump.

“Starmer does not really oppose these policies. He is keeping quiet, as he did with what Israel did to the Palestinians.”