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Protests oppose war on Iraq

By Calvin Woodward
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Protesters rallied by the thousands in the bitter cold of Washington on Saturday and in capitals worldwide in a passionate show of dissent against war with Iraq. The cry "No blood for oil" echoed from the streets of Pakistan to America's National Mall.

A rally outside the Capitol, followed by a march to a naval yard, anchored demonstrations from coast to coast as well as abroad. With war seeming so close, many protesters made special efforts to get to Washington to make their point in the shadow of America's political and military institutions.

"We stand here today, a new generation of anti-war activists," Peta Lindsay from International Answer, the main organizers, exhorted the national rally. "This is just beginning. We will stop this war."

Signs branded America a "Rogue Nation," and demanded, "Disarm Bush."

"No war on Iraq," the crowd chanted.

The United States seems to be on a relentless march toward conflict, said Larry Holmes, speaking for the organizers. "It seems like it has a momentum and a sense of inevitability, and so we're rushing against the clock," he said.

"So as they send the troops there and surround Iraq, we're sending the troops into the streets of Washington, D.C., so to speak."

Morning temperatures were in the teens, and organizers tightened their schedule so people would not stand long in the cold.

Three dozen people turned out by the Vietnam War Memorial to show support for President Bush's policy on Iraq and offer a contrary voice to the blitz of demonstrations.

"The protesters don't understand the threat" of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, said Scott Johnson, 55, a Navy veteran from Minneapolis. "It's a war of liberation for people."

A major demonstration was organized in San Francisco, and activists assembled in other states.For many, the imperative was to come to Washington.

Demonstrators staged peace rallies worldwide, events that typically drew hundreds or fewer. But 5,000 people marched through downtown Tokyo, carrying toy guns filled with flowers, wearing face masks that parodied President Bush and waving banners. The crowd, made up largely of students and laborers, was orderly.

About 60 protesters in Hong Kong shouted, "War, no," and in Pakistan, the familiar refrain "No blood for oil" rang out.

Several hundred people tried to march on the U.S. consulate in Lahore, but Pakistani authorities held the crowd back. Six were allowed to deliver an appeal to American officials to spare Iraqis from war.

More than 400 New Zealanders demonstrated in Christchurch. In Moscow, a few hundred people agitated outside the U.S. Embassy in a protest organized by a branch of the Communist Party. People turned their backs to the building, and signs called the United States a "Global Cannibal."

In the Syrian capital, Damascus, thousands marched with a message that was not all about peace. Many cried, "Our beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," in celebration of Iraq's missile thrusts against Israel during the 1991 Gulf War and in hope Saddam would strike again. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians rallied under the same slogan.

In Washington, demonstrators hoped the weekend protests and more ahead would win over an American public that is unsettled by the prospect of an Iraq war yet supportive of Bush's leadership. Bush was at the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat for the weekend.

"Bush has said that he intends to launch a pre-emptive war, and now he's facing the most formidable obstacle, which is a pre-emptive anti-war movement," Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, from Partnership for Civil Justice, said Friday.

Washington police said they had been assured the main rally and march, from the National Mall, around the Capitol, past Marine barracks and to the Washington Navy Yard, would be peaceful.

Police issued several permits to the demonstrators, the largest for 30,000 people. On Sunday, a small group planned to march to the White House and promised nonviolent civil disobedience - meaning some expected to be arrested.

"I think the president welcomes the fact that we are a democracy and people in the United States, unlike Iraq, are free to protest and to make their case known," Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said Friday.