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Reuters | Sky News |  PhotosMonday March 31, 01:52 AM |
Moroccans back suicide attacks
RABAT (Reuters) - About 150,000 Moroccans, chanting "suicide attacks
lead to freedom," have poured through the streets of Rabat as protests
against the war in Iraq flared again around the Muslim world.
In the first major demonstration to be approved by Moroccan authorities
since the start of the war, protesters accused the United States, Britain
and Israel of plotting to control Iraq before attacking other Muslim
countries in the Middle East.
Skirmishes broke out between police and protesters, with one policeman
reported to have been seriously hurt. Police dispersed the march ahead of
schedule as tension rose.
An Iraqi army officer killed four U.S. soldiers in a suicide bombing on
Saturday, the first such incident of the war.
Earlier on Sunday, more than 100,000 Indonesians jammed the streets of
Jakarta shouting anti-American slogans, and 200 foreigners in Beijing
rallied in China's first government-approved protest over the conflict.
An estimated 150,000 people marched in India's biggest anti-war protest
yet in the eastern city of Calcutta and burned several effigies of U.S.
President George W. Bush.
In Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in the war against terror
but strongly opposed to the attack on Iraq, some 100,000 demonstrators --
mainly supporters of right-wing Islamic parties -- turned out in the
northern city of Peshawar.
Donkey carts pulled along two dogs in cages carrying the name tags of
Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair in the country's biggest anti-U.S.
protest in years.
Elsewhere in Asia, up to 50,000 people demonstrated at the Bangladeshi
town of Cox's Bazar, while 10,000 South Korean workers vented their
feelings in Seoul.
BRAZILIANS JOIN PEACE CHORUS
In Brazil, thousands of people gathered on Sunday in the heart of Sao
Paulo -- South America's largest city -- to rally in protest of the
U.S.-led war.
The demonstration in Ibirapuera park -- attended by many high-ranking
members of the new center-left administration -- was just the latest
protest against the war in Brazil, whose government has condemned the war
in Iraq.
"Peace is something that is in our genetic code, in the hearts of
Brazilians," Gilberto Gil, one of Brazil's most popular musicians and the
country's minister of culture, told thousands of people waving white flags
with the word "peace."
"No one has any sympathy for the dictator Saddam Hussein, but we are
absolutely against the disgrace that this war has been and vehemently
condemn the armed attack without the authorization of the U.N. Security
Council," said Marta Suplicy, the mayor of Sao Paulo.
In Spain, thousands marched in heavy rain to Torrejon airbase some 13
miles from Madrid, which is used by the U.S. military, in protest at Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar's staunch support for the war
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, demonstrators
shouted "America, America: terrorist, terrorist" as they brought traffic
to a complete halt on Jakarta's main 10-lane avenue.
The crowd initially gathered near the British Embassy before marching
to the heavily fortified U.S. mission.
While most were Muslims, they were joined by Christians carrying
banners quoting Pope John Paul, who has several times called for an end to
the war.
Some protesters had enlarged photographs of Iraqi civilian victims
around their necks. One wore a monkey suit with a sign reading "Bush: war
criminal."
CHINESE WARY OF PROTESTS
In Beijing, demonstrating foreigners shouted slogans as they marched
past the U.S. Embassy, but a strong police presence quickly stymied
protests by Chinese.
Police ordered some 100 Chinese students to surrender banners. They
also led away about 10 Chinese teenage punk rockers sporting combat boots
and mohawk hair-dos after they raised signs reading "Wanted: George W.
Bush".
The Chinese attempts at protest reflected public discontent over a war
opposed by the Communist government. But allowing only foreigners to
protest showed Beijing's wariness of straining ties with the United
States.
In India, uniformed firemen, schoolchildren, teachers, and businessmen
joined tens of thousands of Communist Party workers in a march through
Calcutta.
Mohammad Nasim, 14, told Reuters, "I see no reason for this war where
innocent people are being killed. Where are the weapons of mass
destruction America was talking about? Bush should tell us."
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