War Protests Dot The Globe

Anti-war protesters in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, burned the American flag Sunday while thousands demonstrated in Australia, Washington's key Asia-Pacific ally in its attack against Iraq.

Like protests in Europe on Saturday, the rallies were smaller than those that jammed cities across the world in the run-up to the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

In Australia, which has contributed 2,000 troops to the war, between 30,000 and 50,000 protesters gathered in Sydney to call for an immediate end to hostilities.

"I'm offended like you by the horrors of war, but what also offends me equally is the hypocrisy and the double standards of George Bush and in particular of the Australian government," union leader Andrew Ferguson told cheering crowds.

More than 4,000 people also rallied outside the federal Parliament in Canberra.

Both demonstrations were significantly smaller than those held last month. A poll published earlier this week showed the start of hostilities in Iraq has begun to shift public opinion in Australia from overwhelming opposition to a fairly even divide.

Earlier Sunday, Australian President John Howard, an unflinching supporter of Washington, told reporters that the war was going "as well as can be anticipated."

In neighboring Indonesia, several hundred protesters chanting "Stop Bush, the war criminal" burned the American flag outside the U.S. Embassy in downtown Jakarta.

Others torched a large effigy of Bush at the gates of the heavily guarded building. Police made no arrests.

Protest organizers had predicted a much larger turnout.

Other protests took place on the resort island of Bali and in two towns on the country's main island of Java, local radio reported.

Jakarta has denounced the war as illegal, and said it could lead to an upsurge in Islamic extremism in the country, which is still recovering from last year's terrorist bombings on Bali that killed 202 people.

In Pakistan, police in the eastern city of Lahore were on high alert ahead of a planned mass peace rally later Sunday.

The largest of Saturday's rallies in Europe took place in London, with police estimating turnout at 200,000 — well down from a mass rally on Feb. 15, which drew at least 750,000 people

Other protests involving tens of thousands of people took place in France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

"Bush, murderer," chanted protesters in Paris, while protesters in Helsinki, Finland, roared, "George Bush, CIA, how many kids did you kill today?"

There were occasional scuffles with police on the fringes of some demonstrations, and officers made scattered arrests.

In the Spanish capital of Madrid, police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters for the second day running. In Barcelona, police said 150,000 protested.

Dozens of protesters hurled rocks and paint at police, who used tear gas and dogs to stop them from reaching the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway.

About 90,000 people marched in Paris, police said. French protesters singled out the McDonald's fast food chain as a symbol of American influence, with protesters pelting rocks at a restaurant in Strasbourg and others bursting into a McDonald's in Lyon.

In the African nation of Sudan, anti-riot police reportedly shot dead a 19-year-old university student during a protest in the capital, Khartoum, his cousin told The Associated Press. Police were not immediately available for comment. No further details were available.

By Chris Brummitt