Global Protests Mark Iraq War Anniversary

By Andrew Cawthorne

March 20, 2004 by Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/newsSearchResultsHome.jhtml?query=Global+protests§ion=a

MADRID - Hundreds of thousands took to streets across the
world on Saturday to demand the withdrawal of U.S.-led
occupying forces from Iraq on the first anniversary of the
start of the war.

Journalists estimated at least a million people streamed
through Rome in probably the biggest single protest, and in
London two anti-war protesters evaded tight security around
parliament to climb the landmark Big Ben clock tower.

From Tokyo to San Francisco, demonstrators accused President
Bush of having made the world an unsafer place by going to
war in Iraq and triggering a violent backlash from al Qaeda
and other Muslim militant groups.

But there were fewer demonstrators than in the mass marches
staged around the world in the run-up to the war.

In Iraq itself, many people said their lives had improved
since Saddam Hussein was toppled, but others said a year of
guerrilla attacks and widespread lawlessness had left them
fearful. No major attacks or protests were reported.

"Your war, our dead" said one Rome protest banner directed at
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, President Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

SEA OF PROTEST FLAGS

"This is a gigantic demonstration," Nobel prize-winning
playwright Dario Fo said as a sea of rainbow-colored peace
flags bobbed above protesters marching to a rally at the
Circus Maximus, site of an ancient Roman stadium.

Supporters of Berlusconi, a staunch backer of the U.S.-led
invasion who has also sent troops to Iraq, issued a statement
criticizing the protesters and accusing them of having
"paralyzed" the capital.

"These aren’t pacifist demonstrations. They are
demonstrations against the United States, against the Italian
government and, in many ways, against the West," Deputy Prime
Minister Gianfranco Fini told the AGI news agency.

The protests began in Asia where rallies took place in
Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, Bangladesh and
Thailand. They then moved to Europe through the day and more
were expected in the Americas later.

In Spain, many protesters blamed the previous conservative
government’s decision to go to war in Iraq for the March 11
Madrid train bombings that killed more than 200 people.

"The government took the country to war, but it was ordinary
people who got hurt and killed by the terrorists," film
producer Lila Pla Alemany said on her way to a protest in
Barcelona.

Incoming Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero,
elected last weekend, has pledged to pull Spanish troops out
of Iraq, calling the war a disaster and fiasco.

"WANTED" POSTERS

In London, thousands streamed through central London carrying
"Wanted" posters bearing the faces of Bush and Prime Minister
Tony Blair, Washington’s main ally on Iraq.

"We want to send a clear message to...Blair that we and the
British people are fed up with the half-truths and evasions
on Iraq," said a protest organizer, Stephen Tindale.

He and many other protesters accuse Bush, Blair and other
leaders who backed the war of lying when they said it was
necessary because Saddam possessed weapons of mass
destruction. No such arms have been found.

A protester wears a George W. Bush mask during a march to
mark the first anniversary of the start of war in Iraq, in
Glasgow, March 20, 2004. Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Reuters

In Greece, around 10,000 protesters marched toward the U.S.
embassy in Athens which was protected by hundreds of riot
police. But the numbers were well down on the some 100,000
who marched against the war last year.

In Germany, several thousand people took part in
demonstrations in about 70 cities and towns across the
country. About 1,000 protested outside a U.S. air base at
Ramstein. "Happy Birthday Mass Murder," said one banner.

Some 3,000 people turned out in Sydney, chanting "End the
occupation, troops out" and carrying an effigy of Prime
Minister John Howard, a firm supporter of the war. Last year
some 200,000 protested against the war.

An estimated 120,000 protested across Japan, including two
rallies in Tokyo that each drew about 30,000 people, the
Kyodo news agency said.

Yasuko Nagasawa, 41, said she feared the presence of Japan’s
Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in Iraq could make her country a
target.

"If the SDF stays in Iraq, something like 9/11 will happen in
Japan. The troops must come home," she said.

[Additional reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo, Paul Eckert in
Seoul, Peter Griffiths in London, Karolos Grohmann in Athens,
Kirsten Gehmlich in Paris, Kamil Zaheer in Calcutta, Nizam
Ahmed in Dhaka]

© 2004 Reuters Ltd