No let up in global anti-war protests

In Rome, groups of demonstrators hung black sheets from the 16 bridges across the River Tiber.

Up to 30,000 protestors were involved in a human chain in Germany, between the northern cities of Munster and Osnabrueck, 55 kms (35 miles) apart.

Police said another 23,000 took part in marches in Berlin, culminating in a rally in the Tiergarten park.

And more Germans held protests in Stuttgart and Frankfurt, where 25 people were arrested as they tried to block the entrance to a US airbase.

Several thousand demonstrators marched through Paris in the fifth mass protest there since the war began.


More peace marches were held in Budapest, Warsaw, Moscow and Dublin.

The demonstrations in Europe followed similar protests in Asia.

Police in Kuala Lumpur used teargas to disperse 1,000 people who gathered in the city centre.

They had been demonstrating outside the Australian High Commission after being prevented from marching to the US embassy.

Several opposition leaders were reported to have been detained.

Marchers also clashed with riot police in South Korea, where thousands of activists marched through Seoul.

The demonstrators were demanding that the National Assembly reject a government bill authorising the dispatch of 600 military engineers and 100 medical personnel to support US forces in Iraq.

Police in Australia said more than 15,000 people marched through city streets in Melbourne to protest over the government's decision to send troops to Iraq.

Several in the crowd ripped and tried to burn an American flag.

A crowd of several thousand in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, have demonstrated for the second consecutive day.

The protest was largely peaceful but the protestors were prevented from marching on the guarded diplomatic areas of the city.

First for China

Police in China have given permission for the country's first anti-war protests on Sunday but has strictly limited the numbers allowed to take part.

One demonstration is to be held by a group of intellectuals in a park and another is to be staged by students from Beijing university.

The planned protests follow big demonstrations by Muslims in Asian and Arab countries after Friday prayers.

In the United States, anti-war organisers say more demonstrations are planned in several cities.

One of the main venues will be San Francisco, where more than 2,000 arrests were made in mass protests last week.



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