Global protests mark Iraq invasion anniversary

Commemorating the third anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, demonstrations were held across Australia, Asia and Europe, drawing smaller-than-anticipated crowds–far short of the millions worldwide who protested the initial invasion in March 2003 and the first anniversary in 2004. Protests included a 1,000-strong rally in Seoul, where demonstrators urged the South Korean government to bring their troops home. In Malaysia's largest city, Kuala Lumpur, about 600 people protested peacefully. In Tokyo, about 800 demonstrators took to the streets, after some 2,000 protested the day earlier. "The war is illegal under international law," said Takeshiko Tsukushi, a member of World Peace Now, which helped plan the rally. "We want the immediate withdrawal of [Japan's] Self Defense Forces and from Iraq along with all foreign troops." "The Iraq War was President Bush's big mistake and the whole world is against him," said organizer Ayako Nishimura. "Iraq must decide its own affairs." In London, police said 15,000 people joined a march on Mar. 18 from Parliament and Big Ben to a rally in Trafalgar Square. Organizers disputed this figure, insisting that a much larger number of 80-100,000 people marched. The anniversary last year attracted 45,000 protesters in the city. A handful of protesters donned orange jumpsuits and wore shackles on their wrists to mimic outfits worn in the US Guantánamo Bay prison, and carried photographs of prisoners. Hundreds of anti-war protesters marched silently and carried symbolic caskets through the capital of Puerto Rico, led by the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Around 500 protesters marched through central Sydney, Australia, chanting "End the war now" and "Troops out of Iraq." Many campaigners waved placards branding President Bush the "World's No. 1 Terrorist" or expressing concerns that Iran could be the next country to face invasion. Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was heckled by campaigners in Sydney this week, who said she had "blood on her hands." But Sidney's protest was small compared to the mass demonstrations that swept across the country in the buildup to the invasion–the largest Australia had seen since joining US forces in the Vietnam War. The turnout also was lower than protesters had hoped in Britain, whose government has been the United States' strongest supporter in the war. Authorities shut down streets in the heart of London's shopping and theater district for the demonstration, which organizers had predicted would attract up to 100,000 people. In Turkey, thousands gathered in Istanbul for protests, and other demonstrations were planned in the cities of Izmir, Trabzon and the capital, Ankara. Opposition to the war is nearly universal in Turkey and cuts across all political stripes. "USA, go home!" said red and black signs carried by hundreds of the some 5,000 protesters gathered in Kadikoy. In Sweden, about 1,000 demonstrators gathered for a rally in Stockholm before a march to the US Embassy. Some protesters carried banners reading "No to US warmongering" and "USA out of Iraq," while others held up a US flag with the white stars replaced by dollar signs. In Copenhagen, more than 2,000 demonstrators marched from the US embassy to the British embassy, demanding that Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen withdraw the 530 Danish troops stationed in southern Iraq. "We will continue until we see the last general running for a helicopter on the roof of the US Embassy in Baghdad," read a statement from Stop the War Alliance, which organized a 600-strong rally outside the US Embassy in Athens, Greece. "American killers get out of Iraq," they chanted. About 700 protesters marched peacefully through an inner-city district of Berlin during a rally. In Austria, about 200 protesters chanting "Freedom, freedom for Iraq and Palestine," marched through Vienna to the US embassy. Up to 2,000 anti-war protesters marched through Toronto, while others demonstrated in a few dozen other Canadian cities. "Out of Afghanistan! Out of Iraq!" shouted Toronto protesters as they gathered outside the US consulate. There were other protests in Madrid, Rome, Dublin, Karachi, Dhaka and elsewhere.