Thousands Protest in Asia, Australia
JAKARTA, Indonesia (March 23) - Anti-war Muslim extremists protested in Indonesia on Sunday, saying the killing of the U.S. president would be legal under Islamic law, while tens of thousands of demonstrators in Pakistan shouted ``Kill America!''
Up to 50,000 rallied in Australia, Washington's key Asia-Pacific ally in its attack against Iraq.
The protests came a day after hundreds of thousands rallied in European and U.S. cities against the war. Though noisy, the demonstrations were smaller than those that jammed cities across the world in the run-up to the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.
In the United States on Saturday, 90 people were arrested in New York and about 80 were arrested in Los Angeles as anti-war protests and counter-protests rippled across the country.
The largest demonstration appeared to have been in New York, where police said 125,000 chanting activists walked 30 blocks down Broadway to Washington Square Park. Organizers estimated attendance at twice the police figure.
In Los Angeles, an estimated 2,500 anti-war demonstrators made their way down Sunset Boulevard - a group that included actor Tim Robbins, actress Susan Sarandon and Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.
In Washington, several hundred protesters chanting ``No blood for oil!'' strode through the streets and rallied in front of the White House. Their pink and orange signs read ``No war against Iraq'' and ``Money for unemployment, not war.''
In Des Moines, Iowa, hundreds of people toting pictures of loved ones serving overseas waved American flags outside the Capitol. Similar rallies took place in Clarksville, Tenn.; Sacramento, Calif; Bear, Del.; Raleigh, N.C., and other cities.
More than 5,000 backers of the American military demonstrated at a baseball stadium in Millington, Tenn., home to a military base. Ricky Hunt held a poster with an 8-by-10 photograph of a Marine in Iraq.
In Pakistan on Sunday, demonstrators carried portraits of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in a rally organized by Pakistan's Islamic right.
``Kill America! Kill America!'' shouted about 30,000 people, mostly students from Islamic schools and colleges. Police were on high alert.
One protester, a 4-year-old girl, waved a toy gun and yelled, ``God is great!'' A 7-year old boy beat an effigy of President Bush.
In Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation, about 1,000 protesters rallied outside the British, Australian and U.S. embassies. A U.S. flag and an effigy of Bush were torched.
In a separate protest, about 200 Islamic fundamentalists, dressed in long flowing white robes, demonstrated in front of the U.S. Embassy, carrying banners that said killing Bush was permissible under Islamic law.
The U.S. State Department warned Saturday that the embassy in Jakarta had received ``credible information'' that Islamic extremists may be targeting American citizens in the country as a result of the war in Iraq. The department urged Americans to leave the country.
The warning came after Australia said on Saturday it had received credible information that al-Qaida-linked terrorists were preparing to attack Westerners in the port city of Surabaya in East Java.
In the Australian city of Sydney, between 30,000 and 50,000 protesters demanded an immediate end to hostilities. More than 4,000 people also rallied outside the federal Parliament in Canberra.
``I'm offended like you by the horrors of war,'' protest leader and union leader Andrew Ferguson said in Sydney.
Australia has contributed 2,000 troops to the invasion of Iraq. Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday the war was going ``as well as can be anticipated.''
In Japan, up to 2,000 rallied peacefully in several cities, including the city of Hiroshima where demonstrators protested in front of a memorial for those killed when U.S. forces dropped an atomic bomb on the city in World War II.
03/23/03 11:20 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. |
