A 21-year-old man accused of injuring himself and 26 other people by setting himself on fire in a Melbourne bank has been identified as a Burmese asylum seeker.

Thousands of protesters marched in Australian cities today demanding an end to the US military occupation in Iraq, kicking off a wave of worldwide rallies to mark the first anniversary of the war.

IN a taped interview, one of the two brothers who unsuccessfully sought asylum at the British consulate in Melbourne yesterday described how he tried to commit suicide inside the Woomera detention camp.