Mon, Mar 24, 2003 page3

• `Bush, murderer,' chant activists

  DEMONSTRATIONS Protesters around the world doubt that George W. Bush or Tony Blair will listen to them but they still want to drive home their message

  • AP
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  Demanding an immediate end to the war in Iraq, tens of thousands of people marched in cities around the world or demonstrated outside US military bases, but the demonstrations were far smaller than recent protests.

  "Bush, murderer," chanted protesters in Paris Saturday, while protesters in Helsinki, Finland roared, "George Bush, CIA, how many kids did you kill today?"

  

  A protester attacks the barricade in front of the US Consulate during a march against the US-led war on Iraq in Montreal on Saturday.

  PHOTO: AP

  Organizers said there had not been much time to plan protests, but there was little sign of people responding to calls to pour into the streets or responding spontaneously to the start of war. Despite large turnouts in some cities Saturday, the mostly peaceful marches were dwarfed by anti-war protests Feb. 15, which saw some of the largest demonstrations in history.

  

  A young man wearing a helmet takes part in a demonstration of around 30,000 people protesting against the US-led war on Iraq in Bern, Switzerland, on Saturday.

  PHOTO: AP

  In the African nation of Sudan, anti-riot police reportedly shot dead a 19-year-old university student during a protest in the capital, Khartoum, his cousin said. Police were not immediately available for comment.

  Jaakko Kartano, a student at a march in Helsinki, Finland, said, "People ask what's the use of this, but our task is to instill faith in people and try and prevent anything like it [the war] happening again."

  There was a sense of frustration among marchers in London. The turnout was well down from last month's mass rally, which drew at least 750,000 people, with police estimating turnout Saturday at 200,000.

  Many protesters said they did not expect British Prime Minister Tony Blair or US President George W. Bush to listen to them.

  "I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell this march will stop the war but it's going to send out a message to next time, maybe," said Ernie Vandermass, a student who marched in London.

  Protests would grow as the war continued, organizers said.

  In the US, anti-war activists marched in dozens of cities, marshaling well over 100,000 in Manhattan.

  Tens of thousands protested in San Francisco after two days of anti-war rallies in which about 2,200 were arrested.

  Supporters of the war marched too, often by the thousands, with American flags and chants of "USA!" An estimated 15,000 pro-military demonstrators crammed shoulder-to-shoulder, prayed, and sang patriotic songs in Auburn, Indiana.

  In Europe there were dozens of demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people in Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other countries.

  A few radicals scuffled with police on the fringes of some demonstrations and there were scattered arrests.

  In the Spanish capital Madrid, police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters for the second day running. In Barcelona, police said 150,000 protested, while town hall officials estimated up to half a million.

  Dozens of protesters hurled rocks and paint at police who used tear gas and dogs to stop them from reaching the US embassy in Oslo, Norway.

  About 90,000 people marched in Paris, police said. French protesters singled out the McDonald's fast food chain as a symbol of American influence, with protesters pelting rocks at a restaurant in Strasbourg and others bursting into a McDonald's in Lyon.

  Police said 30,000 people marched in Bern, Switzerland, where organizers estimated between 40,000 and 50,000.

  In Berlin, about 40,000 protested and one placard declared "Dresden 1945, Baghdad 2003: The same crime" -- a reference to the Allied firebombing of the eastern German city at the end of World War II.

  In Asia, the largest demonstrations were in Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation, but only a few thousand people took part, some burning US flags and photos of Bush.
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