UNITED KINGDOM: A 12,000 CAPACITY CROWD ATTENDS A CONCERT AT WEMBLEY ARENA TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE KURDISH REFUGEES

Record ID: 688199

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: A 12,000 CAPACITY CROWD ATTENDS A CONCERT AT WEMBLEY ARENA TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE KURDISH REFUGEES
  • Date: 13th May 1991
  • Summary: WEMBLEY, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (MAY 12, 1991) (REUTERS) GV, PULL-BACK EXTERIOR WEMBLEY ARENA 0.08 GV GREY SPEAKING ABOUT BEING RELEASED TO THE KURDS (ENGLISH) "THIS MONEY IS PARTICULARLY LOOKING AT HELPING THE KURDS AND WE ARE MAKING SURE THAT THE RIGHT SOURCES OF GOODS ARE GETTING OUT THERE. BUT THIS DOES RELEASE OTHER MONIES THAT THE RED CROSS HAD FOR BANGLADESH, FOR ETHIOPIA AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD WHERE NEED IS JUST AS URGENT AND IMPORTANT." 0.27 GV OPPOSITION LABOUR PARTY LEADER NEIL KINNOCK ARRIVING WITH ANN CLWYD, LABOUR SHADOW MINISTER 0.30 GV MAJOR MEETING GUESTS BEFORE CONCERT 0.34
  • Embargoed: 28th May 1991 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom, United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVAD448BGK57FZC0NP1XO1GXG8WO
  • Story Text: Britain's Prime Minister John Major and Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales, joined a sell-out crowd at Wembley Arena in London on Sunday night (May 12) for an international pop concert to raise money for Iraq's Kurdish refugees.
    Kurdistan flags fluttered among the 12,000-strong capacity audience as Rod Stewart began the concert via a satellite link-up from Lausanne, Switzerland. Chris de Burgh, whose latest release "The Simple Truth" was the theme song for the concert, had the crowd singing along to his hit "Don't Pay The Ferryman."
    Other stars on stage and via satellite hook-up included Tom Jones, INXS, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Sinead O'Connor and MC Hammer.
    The concert, broadcast to 34 countries, was interspersed with pleas for donations to the Red Cross and film of the refugees who fled after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein crushed the Kurdish revolt which followed Baghdad's defeat in the Gulf war.
    Telephone donations totalled 2.52 million United States (US) dollars by the end of the concert. More donations are expected before the appeal closes on May 25. Ticket sales were expected to raise another 1.7 million US dollars and organisers were sure of matching the 17 million dollars donated by the British government.
    John Grey, spokesman for the British Red Cross, said donations for the Kurds will release other monies from the Red Cross for victims of the Bangladesh cyclone and famine in Ethiopia.
    >Source: REUTERS - KEN HARDING AND MAHMOUD OSKOUI/INDEPENDENT TELEVISION NEWS (ITN)/ROYAL ROTA/BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (BBC)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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