Global protests against Israeli offensive

Opening up a weekend of world-wide protests, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites thronged the streets of Baghdad chanting "Death to Israel" and "Resistance" in a massive and noisy demonstration of support for Lebanon's Hezbollah militia on Aug. 4. The march, organized by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was the largest foreign show of support for the Lebanese Shiite militants in the three weeks since Israel launched a devastating ground and air offensive against them. Shiite demonstrators wore white shrouds to demonstrate their willingness to accept martyrdom, marched over US and Israeli flags and waved hundreds of yellow Hezbollah flags in support of the militia's resistance against Israel. "This million-man demonstration is to support the resistance in Lebanon," cleric Hazem al-Aariji told worshippers at Friday prayers before the march. The following day, rallies and marches against Israeli aggression were reported all over the map. More than 5,000 people marched in Tel Aviv, Israel, to protest the ongoing Israel Defense Forces operation in Lebanon. Demonstrators called for an end to the conflict and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, while denouncing Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Thousands marched in London to demand a halt to the Lebanon war as the British government tried to deflect criticism that it has failed to call for an immediate cease-fire. The Stop the War Coalition, a group formed to oppose the US-led "war on terror" which helped organize the march, urged demonstrators to pile children's shoes near British Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence in protest against the death of children in the war. "This will be a memorial to the hundreds killed in Lebanon," a spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition said in a statement. Blair's government has come under fire at home for following US President George W. Bush's lead on the conflict and refusing to call for an immediate halt to hostilities. Protesters booed and yelled "Ceasefire now!" and "Shame on you" as they passed the entrance to 10 Downing Street, where Blair lives. Demonstrators delivered a petition, which organizers said had been signed by 30,000 people, to Blair's office, urging the government to call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire. At least three legislators from Blair's own Labor Party spoke at a rally after the march, criticizing the government's response to the war. "I bring a message for Tony Blair. You bring shame upon this country," said John McDonnell, a member of parliament from Blair's Labor party. Demonstrators carried makeshift children's coffins and dismembered dolls covered in fake blood to protest against the violence in the region, which has killed many children. Yasmin Ataullah, spokeswoman for protest co-organizers the British Muslim Initiative, said: "Nearly a third of the 900 or so killed in Lebanon are children." The organizers–the Stop The War Coalition, CND and the British Muslim Initiative– claimed between 80,000-100,000 took part in the hastily arranged demonstration. The police estimate was 20,000. In Saudi Arabia, where public discontent is rare, a crowd of about 100 people threw stones and a firebomb at the British embassy. Demonstrators also took to the streets of Damascus, Cairo and Amman in the Middle East, and Vienna and Glasgow in Europe. Peaceful demonstrations also took place in the Philippines and Bangladesh, while Pakistan's parliament unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the attacks and demanding an immediate ceasefire. In South Africa, thousands marched through Cape Town to Parliament to insist the government recall its ambassador from Israel and sever diplomatic ties, impose trade sanctions, and prosecute South Africans who serve in the Israeli Defense Force. More than 2,000 people marched in downtown Cairo, demanding authorities allow them to fight in Lebanon, police said. Some set Israeli and US flags on fire. The next day, protesters from a wide ideological and religious spectrum demonstrated in cities across Indonesia. About 5,000 protested outside of the US embassy in Jakarta. Many participants wore headbands calling Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Bush terrorists. Banners read "Give a chance to Peace" and "Aggression is human crime." Protests were also reported in Yogyakarta, Indonesia's Java island heartland, in Surabaya, Indonesia's second most populous city after Jakarta, and Medan, its third largest. Meanwhile in Morocco, a forest of Lebanese, Hezbollah and Palestinian flags filled Casablanca as tens of thousands of Moroccans marched. Israeli and US flags were burned outside of the city hall. Security sources put the number at the march at about 70,000. Organizers said up to one million people attended. "The Moroccan people came out to condemn this US-Israeli plot," said Mustapha Motassim of the Citizen Alternative party. In Brussels, several thousand people marched to demand an immediate ceasefire. A leader of the march, Khodor Berro, dismissed a draft UN resolution on ending the fighting as "an American-Israeli project."