Protests accross the globe mark Iraq war anniversary
3/19/2006 8:00:00 PM GMT
Worldwide anti-war protests marking the third anniversary of Iraq war continued for the second day on Sunday.
Thousands of people took to the streets in various countries around the world on Sunday demanding the withdrawal of U.S. and foreign troops from Iraq.
Tens of thousands of protesters, from hurricane-ravaged Louisiana to Australia, chanting "Stop the War" and calling for the withdrawal of occupying forces from the war-ravaged country, crowded the streets Sunday expressing their opposition to the U.S.-led invasion and the bloodshed and turmoil it has caused in and around Iraq.
200 war veterans, hurricane survivors and demonstrators gathered at the Chalmette National Cemetery protesting Iraq war that has tarnished the U.S. image worldwide.
In Seoul, South Korea, which has the third-largest contingent of foreign troops in Iraq after the U.S. and UK, up to 2,000 demonstrators were expected to participate in anti-war demonstrations.
And in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a huge rally was set to take place outside the U.S. Embassy.
“This is aimed at calling for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, withdrawal of South Korean troops and an end to South Korea-U.S. war coalition,” said Kim Kwang-il, one of the protest organisers in Seoul.
“We’re also going to denounce recent U.S. moves to attack Iran.”
"We attacked a country who never did anything to us," said Philadelphia resident Al Zappala, who lost her 30-year-old son in Iraq in 2004.
In the British capital, 15,000 people took part in a massive anti-war rally Saturday from Parliament and Big Ben to Trafalgar Square.
Also anti-war protesters took to the streets in Japan, with about 800 demonstrators chanting "No war! Stop the war!" and banging drums as they marched through downtown Tokyo toward the U.S. Embassy.
"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 Chalmette, former Florida National Guard Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, a conscientious objector from Miami Beach, Fla., who was court-martialed and jailed for desertion, joined other anti-war rallies.
"I joined the military because it seemed to offer stability and camaraderie," he said. "No soldier signs up for a war for oil."
Activist Cindy Sheehan, who led a major anti-war movement last summer, including a month-long protest outside President Bush's Texas ranch, joined the Gulf Coast marchers in Mississippi on Friday.
"Katrina only happened because of the incompetence and callousness of the (Bush) administration, just as we've seen in Iraq," Sheehan said Sunday.
In Chicago, protests drew more than 7,000 people on Saturday, with demonstrators demanding the U.S. pull out of Iraq.
"Bush is a category 5 disaster," one sign read.
"I'm against this war, I'm against the torture," said protester Martha Conrad, 54. "We're doing this for the people of Iraq."
More protests were held in Boston, San Francisco and Pittsburgh, with more than 1,000 people packed into New York's Times Square on Saturday chanting: "Stop the U.S. war machine, from Iraq to Korea to the Philippines."
Anti-war demonstrations started across the globe Saturday protesting the U.S-led unjustified war on Iraq..
Addressing more than 1,000 people who gathered in Times Square, Wael Musfar of the Arab Muslim American Federation, said:
"We say enough hypocrisy, enough lies, our soldiers must come home now".
"I have friends in Iraq and I just want them to know that I may not be able to support them there, but I can here," said Jose Avila, 36.
UK, Basra, New York, Madrid, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Dublin all staged protests Saturday, demanding the U.S. and foreign troops withdraw from the war-torn country.
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