Thousands of people gathered Saturday in Washington and other cities around the world to protest a possible US-led war on Iraq. Many in the crowd -- estimated by organizers at 100,000 -- carried signs such as "Stop the War on Iraq before it begins" and "Drop Bush, not Bombs."
Washington police spokesman Quentin Peterson stated the protesters had requested a permit for 20,000 marchers but an estimated 50,000 may have shown up.
Additionally, tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Europe. In Rome and in Amsterdam, many of the demonstrators marching through the streets also voiced opposition to Israel's military presence in the Palestinian territories.
According to AFP, the biggest turnout was in Germany, where thousands took to the streets out in some 80 towns and cities including Frankfurt and in Hamburg in the north, as well as the capital Berlin. The Federal Peace Committee, which helped organize the protests, said 10,000 people attended the Berlin protest -- more than twice the police estimate.
As the demonstrators gathered in central Berlin, Greens deputy Hans-Christian Stroebele called on the governing coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens to maintain their firm opposition to a war in Iraq, which he said was "against international law".
Meanwhile, the White House said Saturday it would be "not very hard at all" to assemble an alliance to confront Saddam Hussein without the United Nations.
"If the U.N. does not pass a resolution which holds him to account and that has consequences, then, as I have said in speech after speech after speech, if the U.N. won't act — if Saddam Hussein won't disarm — we will lead a coalition to disarm him," the president said at the 21-nation Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Later, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the prospects for a tough resolution may be slipping away. "I don't want to say that we're near a solution because it may evade us," he told reporters. "But I think we have successfully narrowed down the differences to a few key issues. And if we can resolve these few key issues in the days ahead, then I think we might get a resolution that would be strong."
"I don't think there's any doubt that the threat of force and the threat of consequences ... must be there or we know that Iraq will not respond," Powell said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
