The thousands calling for a ceasefire and peace deserve better than abuse and belittlement | Aditya Chakrabortty

As a million Britons marched through London in 2003 against war with Iraq, William Rees-Mogg gazed on from outside the Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall. In the Times, he sniffed at the protesters’ outfits (“they dressed as they might for a football match”) and scowled at their arguments. However well-intentioned, their very presence helped “maintain the torture chambers of Baghdad”. They were, he said,