Anti-Iraq war protests roll around the world

Anti-war protests marking the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq were continuing today, a day after tens of thousands of people took to streets around the world to demand coalition troops pull out of the country.

Up to 2,000 demonstrators were expected in Seoul, South Korea, which has the third-largest contingent of foreign troops in Iraq after the US and Britain, while a rally was planned outside the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the largest city in Malaysia.

“This is aimed at calling for an end to the US occupation of Iraq, withdrawal of South Korean troops and an end to South Korea-US war coalition,” said Kim Kwang-il, one of the Seoul protest organisers. “We’re also going to denounce recent US moves to attack Iran.”

Demonstrations started yesterday with 500 people chanting anti-war slogans in Sydney and rolled around the world, with major protests in London and the US, where more than 1,000 people gathered in New York’s Times Square.

In Boston, Susan McLucas wore a home-made sandwich board that read: “Bush Lied! 100,000 died!”

“It’s a war based on lies,” said McLucas, 57. “We are gaining strength. The war is becoming more and more unpopular.”

But the number of people taking to streets did not bear that out, with attendance lower than organisers had predicted and far below the millions worldwide who protested the initial invasion in March 2003.

In Pakistan, hundreds of people held anti-war rallies in several cities, chanting slogans such as “Down with America!”

About 300 people marched through Multan, a main city in the eastern Punjab province, with some burning US flags.

“We have gathered here to tell America that we want peace, not war,” said Babar Man, a local Islamic leader. He urged US President George Bush to end military operations in Iraq and pull out troops to avoid any further bloodshed.

About 200 Pakistanis gathered in the southern city of Karachi to condemn the US-led invasion. Pakistan has supported the US’ war against terrorism in Afghanistan, but not the war in Iraq.

In London, police said about 15,000 people marched from Parliament to a rally in Trafalgar Square, far fewer than the 100,000 organisers had expected.

The numbers joining war protests were dwarfed by the half million people who demonstrated across France against proposed labour law reforms, and some 80,000 nationalists who rallied in Belgrade to mourn accused war criminal and former Balkan strongman Slobodan Milosevic who died a week ago in his cell at a UN war crimes court in the Netherlands.

“We are against this war, both for religious reasons and on a humanitarian basis, too,” said student Imran Saghir, 25, a Muslim who attended the London rally.

Speakers in London demanded coalition forces be withdrawn from Iraq, warning that the fighting could spread to neighbouring Iran because of the international stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“We must redouble our efforts not just to stop this war, but to say ’no’ to an attack on Iran,” said Mark Serwotka, the head of the Public and Commercial Services union.

Britain, the US’ strongest supporter in the Iraq war, has about 8,000 troops in Iraq but plans to pull out 800 of them by May. The British military has reported 103 deaths there.

Protesters rallied across Europe – from Scandinavia to Greece – yesterday, and in Turkey, where opposition to the war is nearly universal.

“Murderer USA,” read a sign unfurled by a communist in Taksim Square in Istanbul. “USA, go home!” said red-and-black signs carried in Kadikoy on the city’s Asian coast.

Turkey, Iraq’s northern neighbour, is the only Muslim-majority member of the NATO alliance. Previously close relations with Washington were severely strained after parliament refused to allow US troops to launch operations into Iraq from Turkish territory.

Britain’s defence chief earlier urged demonstrators in London to support the Iraqi people and condemn terrorism.

“When people go on the streets of London today, I do wish just occasionally they would go out in support of the United Nations, the Iraqi people and the Iraqi democrats and condemn terrorists,” Defence Secretary John Reid told BBC radio during a visit to Iraq.

In Caracas, Venezuela, about a dozen demonstrators gathered in a plaza yesterday and denounced the Iraq war.

President Hugo Chavez is a fierce critic of the war, and many of those who showed up for the small protest said they support him for standing up to what he calls the US ”empire.”

“We reject the occupation of any country in the world by the genocidal and murderous government of the United States,” said Evaristo Mendez.