The World calls for an End to War by Vanessa Walker, Staff Reporters & Agencies The Australian 2:01pm 24th Mar, 2003   March 24, 2003    FAMILIES and friends, ex-soldiers and religious figures, were among those who gathered around the country yesterday to demand an end to the war in Iraq, joined by more than a million worldwide.    About 80,000 people marched in state capitals, well down from the pre-war marches in mid-February when hundreds of thousands of Australians took to the streets.    This time, as well as anger at the Howard Government for Australia's participating in the invasion, protesters called for troops to be brought home.    In Canberra, rose petals marked out a circular peace sign on the lawn outside Parliament House where about 5000 people gathered.    "We want the Australian troops to come home today," organiser James Vassilopoulos said. "Australia has no business in this war."    In Sydney, organisers reminded the 40,000 protesters that it was almost dawn in Baghdad and the crowd observed one minute's silence for those who would endure more bombing in the coming day.    "Stop the mad cowboy disease" and "Shocked but not awed" were among the placards on display and, once again, a larger-than-life papier mache George W. Bush trailed a John Howardesque lapdog. Protesters gathered at the Domain, where Vietnam veteran Gerry Binder, 56, returned his Active Service and Vietnam medals.    "They gave me these medals for the last stupid war we fought," Mr Binder said. "I'm totally disgusted with the criminal invasion of Iraq."    In Melbourne, children clad in anti-Howard T-shirts and babies in prams covered with anti-war slogans held a Babies Against the Bomb rally outside government offices.    Addressing the protest, Greens spokeswoman Pamela Curr spoke of the terror for the families living in the city of Basra, the coalition forces' first major target.    "And this in the name of what? In the name of peace?" Ms Curr said. "We are now in another century. We can do it better. We can settle conflicts in another way. We don't have to spend billions of dollars on weapons of war."    Cradling two-month-old Ada in her arms, new mother Amy Walker said she feared the war in Iraq could lead to a global conflict.    "I often think, now that I've had a baby: 'imagine being a mother in Iraq'," she said.    In Adelaide, protesters poured blood over an American flag to mark the "moral death" of the US.As people set out from Victoria Square to Parliament House, a number of marchers carried a coffin marked: "R.I.P. Iraqi child. Died in aid of U$ oil and arms profit."    The protests were mirrored around the world as more than a million people marched and scores were arrested or injured.    About 50 people, including 18 police, were injured during clashes in central Madrid after a 250,000-strong protest. About one million people protested throughout Spain, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who has strongly supported the war.    In London, police put numbers at 100,000, but organisers claimed more than 700,000.    In New York, about 70 people were arrested on Saturday at a rally by 125,000. Up to 20,000 protesters thronged San Francisco, 3000 people picketed the CNN studios in Los Angeles, 2500 marched in Chicago and 200,000 in Montreal.    In Indonesia, more than 1000 people staged a peaceful rally at the US embassy in Jakarta.    BBC News : 23.3.2003.Anti-war protests span the globe    Tens of thousands of people worldwide have taken to the streets to stage the latest series of demonstrations against the conflict in Iraq. There have been rallies in Australia and New Zealand, the Middle East and Asia, while in the US marches are planned in Washington and other major cities.    Demonstrations are also being held in Paris, Brussels and London, where protesters gathered in the city's Hyde Park for an afternoon of speeches.    Some protests turned violent. In Brussels riot police tried to prevent protesters who hurled rocks and sticks at the US embassy from getting too close to the building, later using water cannon on a small number who split from the main protest.    In New York City, around 100,000 people marched at lunchtime from Times Square to Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park, filling 20 city blocks. A few clashes took place as police chased and surrounded a small group who broke away from the main march.    "We support the troops, but we do not support the president," said New York Congressman Charles Rangel. In Washington, several hundred protesters, chanting "No blood for oil," strode through the streets and rallied in front of the White House.    But pro-war rallies were also reported in some cities, like Atlanta, Chicago, and Lansing, Michigan. Recent polls have suggested increasing support for the war among the US public.    Pope's plea    As 10,000 anti-war protesters marched through the Italian city of Naples towards a Nato base in Bagnoli, Pope John Paul II made his first public comment on the conflict.    "When war, like the one now in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it is even more urgent for us to proclaim, with a firm and decisive voice, that only peace is the way of building a more just and caring society," he said.    In Wellington, New Zealand protesters shouting "no blood for oil" marched to the US embassy and hurled fake blood into the compound. The Australian cities of Brisbane and Hobart were brought to a halt.    "We feel sympathy with the people of Iraq, and the families of Iraq. That's why we're here supporting the families," said one demonstrator.    In Indonesia, a crowd converged on the US embassy in Jakarta, shouting anti-US slogans.    People took to the streets in Seoul    "We condemn the evil aggression against Iraq. Bush, Blair and Howard should be brought to the international court of justice as war criminals," Hizb ut Tahrir, the Muslim group which organised the rally, said in a statement.    There were protests, too, in Malaysia, South Korea and India. In the South Korean capital, Seoul, Buddhist monks struck giant drums at a rally of 2,000 people to console the spirits of victims of the war. And India saw about 15,000 people march in Calcutta, where speakers attacked the US for its "anti-Islamic" war, Reuters news agency reported.    In Bangladesh, a general strike closed down many businesses and mosques, while in the southern mainly Muslim provinces of Thailand people organised prayers for peace.    In Japan, protesters rallied near a US naval base as well as outside a US air base on the southern island of Okinawa.    Europe saw some of the largest demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands of British citizens taking part in demonstrations across the country. In London, marchers wound their way through central London and past Downing Street, the official residence of British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, before arriving at Hyde Park, where speakers denounced what they called US unilateralism.    However the turnout, put at several hundred thousand, was less than anticipated. Protests in the Swiss capital, Bern, were tense after police used water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas against a group of hooded demonstrators, said to be from a radical faction.    In Athens, Greece, demonstrators outside the US embassy threw two Molotov cocktails onto the embassy lawn. An estimated 20,000 people attended a rally in front of the Swiss parliament, the French news agency AFP reported. And in Vienna, Austria, demonstrators threw themselves to the ground to the sound of specially pre-recorded gunshots, and staged a "die-in" in protest at the conflict. Visit the related web page
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