Millions rally against war
2003-02-14 21:15
London - Several million people were expected to pour onto the streets of cities worldwide on Saturday to protest against plans for a US-led war on Iraq, in what organisers were touting as the biggest anti-war protests ever held.
Paris, Berlin, London and New York were to be the focus of major demonstrations, with London organisers alone predicting a crowd of half a million, which would be Britain's largest-ever march.
In other parts of the world protests were already beginning on Friday, with some 150 000 people hitting the streets in the Australian city of Melbourne.
"This war is not Australia's war," said the Green party leader, referring to his country's support for the US war plan.
In the Middle East, several thousands demonstrated in support of Iraq after Muslim Friday prayers.
In Oslo, Norwegian Greenpeace activists marked Saint Valentine's Day by showering the embassies of China, Russia, France and Germany with flowers and letters of thanks for their opposition to war in Iraq.
"These countries deserve our support for their independent and courageous stance, even if we may disagree with certain other aspects of their policies," said Truls Gulowsen, a spokesperson for the environmental and anti-war group.
Duty
In the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, under siege for years during the war of the 1990's, hundreds protested against war on Iraq, saying that as war victims they had a duty to make their voices heard.
British police said they were preparing for a crowd of half a million as anti-globalisation activists, trade unionists and left-wing campaigners were expected to hear speeches from celebrities against Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for President George W Bush.
"People have not been fooled by months of sophisticated propaganda," said a spokesperson of the Stop The War Coalition: "The more governments around the world have tried to coerce people intellectually into agreeing to the war, the stronger public opinion has moved against it."
US activist Jesse Jackson, actress Glenda Jackson and playwright Harold Pinter were due to speak at the London rally.
Marches and rallies were also planned for Rome, Madrid, Athens, Istanbul and Paris.
"Whether or not the war takes place under the aegis of the United Nations, it will be catastrophic for the Iraqi and Kurdish peoples," French organisers said.
New York is the focus of the main United States anti-war demonstration, with hundreds of thousands expected at a rally near UN headquarters.
Movie stars
Celebrities expected included movie stars Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon.
Hundreds of thousands of anti-war demonstrators throughout Asia were preparing Friday for a weekend of protests.
In Japan, a demonstration was planned in front of the US Embassy on Saturday.
On Sunday about 30 protesters including high school students will gather at Tokyo's Narita airport to fly to Iraq to act as human shields against attack.
Students, professors, artists and Muslims were planning a "March for Peace" through Manila Friday that was to end in a candlelight vigil outside the US embassy.
Anti-war sentiment also reached the South Pacific island of Fiji, where the Fiji Anti-War Movement (FAWM) sent floral messages to foreign embassies imploring them to pressure the US and its allies to avoid war.
The bouquets bore the message "Don't kill love by making war".
Several organisations in Hong Kong staged protests Friday outside the US consulate, with a larger rally set for Saturday.
In Pakistan, the Lahore-based Pakistan Anti-War Committee, a coalition of labour and political groups, said it had protests planned for 20 cities.
German unions, rights groups and political associations were gearing up for what was expected the biggest peace rally in Berlin in a decade.
Most surprising
"It will be the most surprising peace mobilisation since the big protests of the 1980s," when the United States deployed missiles in Germany aimed at the former Soviet Union, said an organiser.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reaffirmed his strong opposition to war against Iraq on Thursday in a speech to parliament.
The biggest Middle East demonstration Friday was in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya, stronghold of the Islamic movement Hamas.
An estimated crowd of 15 000 included masked men carrying dummy assault rifles and escorting plastic models of Hamas-made rockets.
Some 500 people marched through Sarajevo's main street to protest against a looming US-led war on Iraq, saying that as war victims they had a duty to make their voices heard.
"The people of Sarajevo still remember war and feel a moral obligation to protest against it," said newspaper editor Senad Pecanin.
Opinion polls in most countries show large majorities of the population opposed to a war, especially if the United States tries to start one without backing from the United Nations.
Iraq, the target of the planned military assault, has the second largest known reserves of oil of any country in the world, after Saudi Arabia. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA