The countdown to military action in Iraq has sparked peace protests in several countries, with more lasting and widespread action anticipated in the event of war breaking out.
As Britain’s Stop the War coalition announced a press conference in Westminster this morning to outline its protest plans, anti-war groups took to the streets in Australia and the Far East.
In Sydney, daredevil activists painted a three-metre high ”no war” slogan across the top of part of the city’s Opera House.
Protesters also made their voices heard in Australia’s parliament, where one man in the public gallery screamed ”murderer, scumbag” as the prime minister, John Howard, announced his decision to commit 2 000 troops to an Iraq invasion force. The man was dragged from the chamber by security guards.
In Tokyo, just hours after Japan’s prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, gave full backing to the US push for war, peace activists began a hunger strike outside the US embassy.
In Pakistan, more than 100 school and college students marched through the city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, demanding a jihad holy war against the US.
They waved placards and banners reading ”No war for oil”, ”Bush is the real sign of terrorism” and ”Hate America, love Islam”.
In the Philippines, at least two people were injured as riot police used truncheons and water cannon to disperse anti-war protesters in front of the US Embassy.
Police in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, said that they were stepping up security at foreign embassies. The move comes in preparation for massive street protests expected in the wake of US president George Bush’s ultimatum to Iraq. – Guardian Unlimited Â