10 million say ‘No’

LONDON — More than 10 million people waving banners and chanting anti-war slogans jammed streets across the world yesterday to oppose US plans to invade Iraq, in one of the biggest global peace protests in history.

In London as many as two million demonstrators, according to organisers’ estimates, snubbed Prime Minister Tony Blair’s support of Washington while Italians said a massive ‘no’ in a rebuke to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s backing of the hardline US stance.

Demonstrators set US flags ablaze in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan.

“Dropping bombs on Iraq is not the way to go about securing the safety of our country,” American movie star Susan Sarandon told reporters in New York ahead of a demonstration expected to draw 100,000.

“Bush: hands off Iraq,” read one banner in Moscow.

The combined estimates of demonstration organisers around the world put the total out demonstrating at some 10.5 million, while police and other official estimates suggested something more like 7.7 million.

Across the Middle East, hundreds of thousands raged at US policy, with gun-toting protesters filing through Baghdad, and rallies in Syria and Lebanon.

More than two million people marched in London, according to organisers. Police put the figure at 750,000, saying it was the biggest-ever in London.

Several hundred thousand marched across France, with between 100,000 and a quarter of a million parading in Paris.

Protesters from almost across the political spectrum rallied behind the slogan “No to war against Iraq, yes to a world of justice, peace and democracy” in a total of 72 towns.

Rallies fired up in cities across Europe, the Middle East and Asia with protest marches from Zagreb to Kolkata, Damascus to Hongkong. New York was the focal point of a national United States day of action marking the largest display so far of US public opposition to a military strike on Iraq. Organisers said they expected more than 100,000 people to take part there in global protests in more than 350 cities around the world, including Bangkok, Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Paris, Rome, San Francisco and Toronto.

Hollywood stars Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover were among speakers addressing a four-hour rally a stone’s throw from United Nations headquarters.

“The government is not representing our concerns,” Sarandon told reporters. “There are alternatives to war. Nothing has been proved so far that warrants an invasion of Iraq.”

Sarandon also accused the administration of President George W. Bush of “hijacking” the national fears engendered by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Among the protesters were relatives of the victims of the September 11 attacks.

Several placards read “Thank You France and Germany” — referring to those countries’ opposition to a military conflict.

In Berlin, half a million people, ranging from schoolchildren to pensioners, turned out for one of the largest rallies held in Germany since World War II.

In a rare sign of unity in Israel, 3,000 Jews and Arabs marched together in Tel Aviv.

Some 200,000 Syrians demonstrated in Damascus, with one banner reading: “Axis of Evil: America, Britain, Israel”.

In Iraq itself, two massive anti-war rallies filled Baghdad streets, with many protestors carrying guns.

More than three million people rallied in Spain’s largest cities of Madrid and Barcelona, according to organisers.

In Moscow, several hundred Communists protested at the US embassy, brandishing banners saying: “Bush, hands off Iraq” and “Bush go away, you are Hitler today”.

In Athens, violence broke out on the sidelines of a demonstration, with rioters throwing Molotov cocktails at a government building.

Rallies were reported in dozens of European cities, including Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Sofia, Bern and Brussels, with up to 100,000 in Dublin, and tens of thousand across Scandinavia.

Thousands of South Africans, including three government ministers, lined the streets of Cape Town, bearing placards saying “Bombs kill babies” and “There’s a terrorist behind every Bush”.

In Asia, schoolgirls, writers, peaceniks, lawyers and trade unionists were among some 3,000 Pakistanis who marched against war on Iraq, burning US flags.

Some 10,000 people marched through Calcutta, while rallies were also reported in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

More than 100,000 people protested across Australia, the only country apart from Britain to have sent forces to the Gulf to join the US military build-up in preparation for war against Iraq.

Tens of thousands turned out in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to demonstrate against war.

“No war for oil,” read one banner.

“No war in our name,” said Mairead Maguire, a leading activist

in the search for reconciliation between the estranged Roman Catholic and Protestant communities of the divided British province.

A group also demonstrated in Algiers, where demonstrations are

banned because of the emergency security situation in Algeria. — AFP