U.S. flag torched by protestors in Bogota

WORLD CAPITALS, March 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Taking various forms and employing innovational tactics, angry protests against the invasion of Iraq Sunday, March 30, mounted their opposition across the globe.

Protesters' tactics have ranged from rallies under banners to a "die-in" in Genoa where people lay down in busy streets to simulate Iraqis killed in air raids, to a naked march through the streets of Bogota.

In The United States…

Anti-war marchers clogged the streets of Boston, Massachusetts in what may have been the largest demonstration there in decades Saturday, and more than 8,000 protested in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Americans denounce Iraq invasion

About 25,000 people marched peacefully in the northeastern city of Boston, according to police figures cited by U.S. media.

In a change of pace, a small but feisty pro-troops rally was staged in front of city hall in usually-peace-minded San Francisco, California.

The protests and rallies were held as U.S. officials fended off charges that troops in Iraq were stalled in their march to take Baghdad and that Saddam Hussein's government would not collapse like a "house of cards" as Vice President Dick Cheney predicted.

In Indonesian…

Indonesians march for peace

Around 200,000 people gathered in front of the United States Embassy in the Indonesian capital Sunday, March 30, in the biggest anti-war rally yet in the world's largest Muslim-populated nation.

The protestors gathered in the sprawling Monas square facing the U.S. Embassy, guarded by police wielding batons and shields.

Crowd estimates varied: the Central Jakarta police put the number at around 200,000, witnesses said 300,000 were present, while organizers claimed more than three million people showed up.

Thousands more were streaming into the venue from many directions as the organizers officially closed the rally at 11.00 am, about 60 minutes after it started.

The protestors marched past the well guarded U.S. Embassy on their way home. Many criss-crossed the city on their buses, cars and motorcycles, waving flags.

Among the public figures addressing the rally were the chairman of the National Assembly Amien Rais, one of his deputies, Andi Mappetahang Fatwa, and chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) Hamidan, who uses one name.

An older sister of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Rachmawati, was also present as well as several religious leaders.

Two open trucks with huge loudspeakers, parked in front of the gate of the U.S. embassy, were used as a makeshift stage for the speakers.

"Our message is very clear, the message of the Indonesian society is ... stop the war now," said MUI general secretary Dien Syamsuddin.

The rally organizers, the Indonesian Solidarity Committee for Iraqi People, said they expected about one million protesters to show up.

The organizers - a coalition of several Muslim organizations including the second largest Islamic movement, the Muhammadiyah, and the MUI which groups the nation's top clerics - dubbed the gathering a rally of "one million believers."

Among the crowd were several Christian and Protestant youth groups, whose presence was acknowledged through public loudspeakers by the organizers.

Most of the participants were Muslims wearing white dress. Many carried the flag of the Justice Party, a small but vocal radical Muslim political group, as well as those of other political parties and organizations.

Police said around 600 personnel, including one company of about 100 women police, were present around the embassy and - because of the size of the protest - the road in front of the embassy was closed to traffic.

Members of the Muslim-oriented United Development Party for Reform carried a 100-meter (-yard) long light green piece of cloth, inscribed with the words "Stop the massacre in Iraq" to the site.

People crowded around the banner to put their signatures on it.

The participants, many of them veiled mothers with their children, displayed anti-war posters and banners and yelled "Allah is Great". Others chanted religious verses.

"Stop the invasion of Iraq," "No war for Oil," and "Stop the slaughter of the people of Iraq," some of the posters read. Many urged the United Nations to be more assertive in its opposition to the war.

Organizers said they would also collect humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people. Indonesia has seen daily protests against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in most of its major cities.

In China…

South Africans denounce “U.S. terrorism”

About 100 Beijing University students gathered on campus Sunday to protest Iraq invasion, in one of only two demonstrations of its kind yet to be allowed by Chinese authorities.

Student organizers were gathering under a red banner reading "Respect life, oppose war", handing out an open letter slamming the war and displaying photos of casualties of the U.S.-led attacks.

Onlookers and passers-by were encouraged to donate money to the Red Cross, which the organizers said would eventually reach war-ravaged areas in Iraq.

By the organizers' own admission, a large number of the people attending the protest were journalists, but they said they were not disheartened.

"Even if our activity doesn't make a difference, it's important to stand up together with other countries to protest the war," said one of the organizers.

The protest took place at the campus' Triangle Square, a rallying point for radical students in the past, including the 1989 Tiananmen protests.

Beijing authorities also allowed a protest by foreigners in the embassy district Sunday.

China is the only major country in the world where the government has openly declared its opposition to the war, but where no mass demonstrations have taken place.

The Chinese government is keen to maintain a stable relationship with the United States. At the same time it fears demonstrations could turn into protests about other issues closer to home.

Latin America saw rallies in Santiago, Mexico City, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Caracas after anti-war protests on Friday in Bogota and Lima.

In the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, artists and sculptors displayed anti-war works in city squares while dance troupes joined protestors in the streets

Colombian students stripped naked in the rain to march through Bogota, bodies painted with anti-war messages

Human chain

Europe, a focus of anti-war feeling, saw demonstrations in many major cities and near U.S. military facilities Saturday, reported the BBC online news service.

"The Yankees are gangsters," one speaker told a rally in Moscow, asking who would be the next U.S. target after Iraq

In Rome, groups of demonstrators hung black sheets from the 16 bridges across the River Tiber as "mourning" for the war dead

At least 40,000 protestors were involved in a human chain in Germany, between the northern cities of Munster and Osnabrueck, 55 kms (35 miles) apart

About 23,000 took part in marches in Berlin, culminating in a rally in the Tiergarten park, and more Germans held protests in Stuttgart and Frankfurt, where 25 people were arrested as they tried to block the entrance to a US air base

Several thousand demonstrators marched through Paris in the fifth mass protest there since the war began, and peace marches were also held in Moscow, Budapest, Warsaw and Dublin

In the Middle East, Iraq's neighbor Jordan saw an angry anti-war march in the city of Irbed, where about 50,000 protesters gathered for an officially sanctioned protest.

Demonstrators hailed Iraqi resistance and called for an Arab and international intervention to oust U.S. and British troops, the Jordanian state news agency reported.

‘Hooting For Peace’

Motorists in Johannesburg who tooted their car horns outside the U.S. consulate to demand an end to the war against Iraq were slapped with 100-rand (12-dollar) fines, the Sunday Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper quoted a police spokesman as saying that between 10 and 20 drivers were fined after complying with placards carried by protesters asking them to "hoot for peace".

After residents complained about the noise, the police asked the protesters to drop the banners but the honking continued, it said.