CAIRO,
February 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the U.S.
increased its hawkish war rhetoric against Iraq, demonstrators from
areas as far on the world map as Cairo and Italy took to streets on
Wednesday, February 26, to urge a peaceful solution to the crisis.
In
Cairo, almost 2,000 Egyptian students protested for a fifth straight day
against U.S. plans to launch a war on Iraq, Agence France-Presse quoted
police as saying.
"Down
with the United States!" cried the protesters inside the campus of
Cairo University. "Iraq, we will not forget you."
Their
placards referred to the United States, Britain and Spain, all of which
have taken a hard line on Iraq, as forming an "axis of evil",
and the demonstrators burnt U.S. and Israeli flags, witnesses said.
Anti-war
protests have been held in the country since Saturday, February 22, at
Egyptian universities.
A
huge government-authorized demonstration is expected in Cairo Stadium on
Thursday, February 27, with one million people expected to show up in
solidarity with Iraq amid tight security measures.
"Genocidal
War"
In
neighboring Sudan, more than 100,000 Sudanese of both sexes took to the
streets of the Sudanese capital to condemn the planned U.S.-led strike
on Iraq.
Government
and opposition parties, trade unions, professional associations,
students, women's and youth organizations took part in the demonstration
which was called by the Popular Organization for Solidarity with Iraq.
Gathering
at Martyrs Square in front of the Republican Palace and flooding into
the streets leading to the square, the protesters carried placards and
chanted slogans against the United States.
They
also criticized Arab allies of Washington, shouting "Shame upon
you, Arabs of the dollar" and burned a U.S. flag in front of the
United Nations offices here. Tens of thousands were bussed into the
capital from outlying suburbs and villages.
Addressed
to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the memorandum said the Sudanese
people denounced "the genocidal war by American and British forces
now being gathered in the region for aggression on the brotherly people
of Iraq and for occupying the state of Iraq using the latest and most
destructive weapons, including nuclear."
Uniformed
police were out in force to maintain order along the route and outside
the UN offices, but the demonstration dispersed peacefully.
Chains
for Peace
 |
|
Protestors
all over the world are still clinging to hopes for a dovish
approach to Iraq
|
In
Italy, anti-war demonstrators sabotaged a train being used to transport
military equipment headed for the Gulf as part of a day of action
against the U.S. military's use of Italy's rail network.
Demonstrators
managed to reach a stationary train loaded with military hardware and
sabotaged the pneumatic brakes of at least one car, while pushing
objects between the wheels of others, the ANSA news agency said.
The
move was the latest in a cat-and-mouse game between Italian authorities
and peace activists calling themselves the "Disobedients", who
began efforts to halt the shipments last weekend when dozens chained
themselves to railway lines.
It
came as hundreds of anti-war activists gathered in Vicenza's Grisignano
station, the point of departure for the military shipments originating
in the nearby U.S. army base at Ederle.
Sabotage
Against the Trains of Death
 |
|
Police
officers drag an anti-war protester as his companion tries to save
him from being arrested during a rally outside the presidential
palace in Manila
|
The
leader of the group Luca Casarini lauded the "creative sabotage
against the trains of death."
"They
did a good job without hurting anybody. Trying to stop a war train is an
action of civilization," he said.
Casarini
later joined hundreds of demonstrators who formed a human chain on a
platform of Padua station, along the route used by the military
shipments. They waved rainbow-coloured peace flags and shouted slogans
but did not try to stop trains.
Around
300 militants also demonstrated peacefully at Bologna's San Ruffillo
station.
Wednesday's
protests were part of a day of action against the U.S. military's use of
the civilian rail network to haul military equipment several hundred
kilometers (miles) across northern Italy to the Camp Darby base near the
Tuscan town of Pisa.
The
materiel is due to be shipped out from the nearby port of Leghorn once
the last of around 26 scheduled military trains reaches Camp Darby.
Several
trains carrying logistics materiel such as Humvee jeeps, trucks, cranes
and mechanical shovels have been delayed or forced to seek an
alternative route by the demonstrations. The equipment is bound for the
Gulf as part of a build-up to a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq.
Meanwhile,
Italy's government mulled tough new measures to dissuade peace
activists, who were planning to round off a day of action with a march
through Pisa late Wednesday.
The
Rome government, a key European supporter of Washington's hard-line
stance against Iraq, has signaled growing impatience with the protests.
"We
have taken all the preventive measures possible, and if necessary, we
will resort to using the just repressive force of the state,"
warned Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu.
Those
blocking the trains could face arrest and imprisonment for up to three
years under new measures being studied by an embarrassed government.
"We
expect many thousands to march today to protests against the U.S.
military shipments," a spokesman for the group Michele de Palma
told AFP.
Other
Areas
Demonstrators
also spanned other countries in a joint opposition to the U.S war
threats and buildup around Iraq.
In
Pakistan, Women Aid Trust, a Karachi-based NGO, organized a silent
demonstration to protest against a possible U.S. aggression on Iraq.
Brazilian
congressmen released doves during a protest outside the National
Congress in Brasilia. The legislators protested against the looming
attack.
Turkish
demonstrators held banners which reads "Don't be an actor in this
scenario", during an anti-war demonstrators in Istanbul, fearing
their country might be a northern front in any U.S. invasion of
neighboring Iraq.
But
the Turkish people keep a firm "No" to helping the U.S
deployment in the country.
Bangladeshi
political and cultural activists released doves during a protest rally
in Dhaka, protesting against the possible war.
In
Manila, students from De La Salle College, a Catholic school shouted
slogans as they form a "human chain" along a busy street in
the capital to protest the impending aggression.
The
anti-war demonstrations have drawn millions to streets in a clear show
of protest against the U.S. hawkish plans against Iraq. The global
protests are mounting as U.S. and British forces continue to mass in the
Gulf for possible war on Iraq.
