Anti-War Protesters Renew Efforts
Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters marched in cities around the globe Saturday, some blowing whistles and others firing guns in the air, in renewed efforts to get their voices heard even as war appears more likely.
Some called for al Qaeda operatives to attack Israel, others lampooned President Bush as a dangerous cowboy, and yet others burned American flags.
The outpouring of pacifist sentiment and widespread criticism of President Bush came a month after millions turned out for some of the biggest demonstrations in decades. But amid chants of "Give peace a chance" in capitals around the world, there were pessimistic voices, as well.
"This is a symbol," said Mohammed Abdel Qudos, an Islamist writer who joined about 300 marchers at Cairo University. "We know that we won't prevent war, but we are just expressing our opposition."
Speakers and marchers elsewhere insisted war was not inevitable.
"We feel that there's still time to get our government to change policy," said Nic Maclellan, march coordinator in Melbourne, Australia.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard already has sent 2,000 troops to the Persian Gulf region.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters wrapped in rainbow peace flags flooded Milan, Italy. Union organizers said the marchers opposed a war even with a second U.N. resolution.
"I'm here to express my opposition to war, to every war," metalworker Alberto Cislaghi said.
Similar sentiments were expressed in Spain, where tens of thousands of people marched in dozens of cities, including Moron de la Frontera, where the U.S. Air Force is using a base for war preparations. Protests also were held in cities across Greece, where more than 10,000 demonstrated outside the U.S. embassy in Athens.
"To start a war is hopeless," former Danish Prime Minister Anker Joergensen told 6,000 at a rally in Copenhagen. "It's important to remove the dictatorship (in Iraq) but not through war."
In Washington, U.S. Park Police reinforced their ranks with officers from New York and San Francisco to help them handle the large crowds gathered on the National Mall.
Students in Bucharest, Romania, marched, as did Japanese elderly who remembered the suffering of World War II. Many demonstrations were organized by leftist parties, unions and peace groups.
Many also lampooned Bush as a dangerous cowboy or worse. In Tokyo, about 10,000 people demonstrated, some carrying signs reading, "Bush the terrorist."
In Hiroshima, about 2,500 people held candles outside the city's peace monument to spell out "No War" and "No Nukes."
"Saddam Hussein's dictatorship is a problem, but it is ordinary people who suffer the most at war," said Haruko Moritaki, a 64-year-old organizer. "The U.S. government should calm down and think carefully."
In Brussels, Belgium, cartoons of President Bush were held alongside signs saying, "No war for oil."
Hundreds of mostly young Germans blocked the main entrance to the U.S. military's Rhine-Main Air Base near Frankfurt, blowing whistles.
After a couple of hours, German riot police began picking up those who refused to leave and took them to police headquarters in Frankfurt, where they were to be detained until the protest was over, police spokesman Peter Liebeck said.
Later, more than 100,000 people — by police estimate — turned out in Berlin carrying candles, flashlights and torches for a 21-mile-long vigil spanning the city from east to west.
About 50,000 demonstrators gathered in Paris' Place de la Nation under a huge American flag with a Nazi swastika painted over the stars and the words "killers and criminals" written over the stripes.
There was a heavy Muslim element to the Paris march, with many people holding Palestinian flags and Arabic signs.
Hundreds of British Muslims marched in London, calling on Islamic countries not to offer bases or logistical support for a war on Iraq.
"It is the governments of the Muslim world who have the power to stop this war," said Zafer Iqbal, whose soft-drink company Qibla Cola sponsored the march.
In the Middle East, most protests were directed against the United States and its allies — including Israel.
"Down, down U.S.A.," the more than 3,000 protesters, many affiliated with hard-line Muslim and leftist groups, chanted as the moved through Amman, Jordan.
They also urged Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda to attack Israel's largest city, shouting, "Beloved bin Laden, strike Tel Aviv."
"Saddam may have weapons of mass destruction, but why the noise over him? What about Israel? Why doesn't Bush ask the same of Israel?" asked Ahmed Bushnaq, a 20-year-old college junior, wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a red New York logo on the back.
Hundreds of thousands of Baghdad residents poured into the streets of the Iraqi capital, protesting against the threat of war with anti-U.S. signs and portraits of President Saddam. Members of Saddam's Baath Party, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, kept order.
About 2,000 people gathered in front of U.N. offices in Beirut, Lebanon, waving banners reading, "No to American Hegemony," and, "Americans, we ask why do you hate us? We ask why do you kill us?"
About 7,500 activists chanted, "Yankee go home!," in the Turkish port city of Iskenderun, where the American military has been unloading transport equipment.
Two thousand South Koreans threw paper doves into the evening sky in downtown Seoul, while some of the 300 protesters in Hong Kong wore mock oil barrels — suggesting that oil, not Iraqi disarmament, is behind the war drive.
In Thailand, about 1,000 people protested outside a U.N. office in Bangkok, listening to speeches from a makeshift stage that was later turned over for karaoke singing.
Latin Americans also protested.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, some of the 6,000 protesters waved Iraqi and Palestinian flags, while thousands marched in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, burning American flags outside the U.S. embassies in both cities. A Buenos Aires man carried a banner that read "Send the Bushman back to the woods."
The anti-war campaign was to continue Sunday with candlelight vigils in more than 1,000 cities.