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Australia, NZ kick off protests
15/02/2003 11:36 - (SA)
Canberra - Tens of thousands of people poured on to the streets in Australia and New Zealand on Saturday to march for peace in Iraq, launching a day of protests across the world against a looming US-led war.
The demonstrations are part of massive rallies planned throughout different time zones with the peace movement expected to spread to more than 600 towns and cities stretching from Tasmania in the south to Iceland in the north.
Organisers expect large crowds in New York and London, while protesters in Rome said they expected more than a million people to attend Saturday's march.
"What the United States is doing now is wrong," said Mariko Aoyama, a Japanese housewife in her 50s, one of hundreds of activists took to the streets of Tokyo.
"We are on the brink of World War Three."
Anti-war protest organisers received a boost on Friday when the top UN arms officials told the United Nations they held out hope arms inspections in Iraq were working. The comments are seen as a setback to Washington's drive to rally support for an invasion.
In Australia, about 16 000 activists gathered in the capital Canberra a day after about 150 000 protested in the southern city of Melbourne in what was Australia's largest protest since the anti-Vietnam War marches of 30 years ago.
Australia, a staunch US ally, has sent about 2 000 troops, jet fighters and warships to the Middle East to join American and British forces, a deployment that has divided the nation and led to widespread criticism of Prime Minister John Howard.
The protesters in Canberra were joined by about 10 000 in the west Australian city of Perth, 15 000 in Newcastle, just north of Sydney, while police in the Tasmanian state capital Hobart estimated a crowd of more than 10 000 where protesters held placards reading "War hurts kids" and "Sack Howard".
In Canberra, demonstrators waved placards depicting US President George W Bush as Uncle Sam leading a small dog which had Howard's head and the Australian flag on its body.
In Sydney, two activists from a opposition party scaled an awning of a prominent building around the site of the US consulate-general to unfurl a banner that read, "No US Oil War - The Greens".
A major protest is set for Sunday in Sydney, and Walk Against the War Coalition spokesperson John Hallam said organisers were expecting a huge turnout.
'Axis of evil'
In nuclear-free New Zealand, several thousand people marched through the centre of the nation's main city Auckland, while a plane trailed a giant banner reading "No War, Peace Now".
In the capital Wellington, more than 5 000 people clutching placards reading "Bush, Blair, Howard - The Axis of Evil" and "Stop Bush Start Peace" marched through the city centre, bringing traffic to a standstill.
Florists handed out left-over Valentine's Day flowers to mothers with babies, while spiky-haired teenagers with skulls painted on their faces joined elderly demonstrators.
About 2 000 people rallied in front of the US and British embassies in Bangkok on Saturday. Most were Thai Muslims.
'Drop Bush, not bombs
More than 2 000 South Koreans gathered in the capital Seoul, shouting "Bush, Terrorist!" and "Stop the war!" There was no apparent repeat of calls for the withdrawal of US forces amid Washington's confrontation with the communist North over its suspected nuclear weapons programme.
The Korea Times said police were concerned about possible clashes with pro-American groups, which have sporadically held rallies since North Korea announced it was about to reactivate plutonium-based nuclear facilities.
In mainly Muslim Malaysia, about 500 protesters staged a brief protest outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur before being ushered away by riot police.
Protesters waved placards reading "Drop Bush not Bombs", "No War for Oil" and depicting Bush with yellowing missiles for teeth.
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, about 150 doctors and nurses protested in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, while in East Timor's capital Dili, about 50 people joined a march sponsored by several NGOs.
New York is gearing up for a large anti-war rally opposite UN headquarters, with more demonstrations planned across the United States.
In London, protest organisers said they expected a huge turnout, while across the rest of Europe, activists were expected to show their distrust of Washington's motivations and their fears the world could be engulfed in a wider conflict.
- Reuters
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