Islamic
leaders at the biggest anti-war rally in the country so far called
for a Muslim economic boycott of the United States and for the
Islamic world to severe ties with countries in the U.S.-led
aggression on Iraq.
Witnesses
said around 300,000 protesters flooded into the north-western city
of Peshawar for the rally organised by the six-party Islamic
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Police said the crowd numbered
250,000.
"For
the first time in its history, America is isolated internationally
and an economic boycott by Muslims the world over would herald its
ultimate collapse," MMA deputy secretary general Fazlur Rehman
told the responsive crowd.
"This
century will witness the destruction and disintegration of
America," he said.
The
protesters gathered on the main Peshawar-Islamabad highway and
packed more than two kilometres (1.2 miles) of the key road to
express solidarity with the people of Iraq.
They
chanted slogans and burned effigies of Bush and Blair while
demanding an immediate end to aggression against innocent Iraqis.
"This
massive rally conveys a message to the world that the policy pursued
by the government on the Iraq issue does not reflect the feelings of
Pakistan’s 140 million Muslims," Rehman declared.
Islamabad
has said it "deplored" the military action in Iraq and
Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali has pledged relief goods for the
people of Iraq.
Witnesses
said people from adjoining districts and towns came to Peshawar in
buses, trucks, tractors and horse-drawn carts to vent their anger
U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Banners
reading "Stop tyranny in Iraq, America quit Iraq" and
"Iraqi brothers MMA is with you" bedecked the venue.
Children were seen in military uniform and carrying toy guns.
In
Egypt…
Egyptian
demonstrators called on their government to support Iraq by not
allowing the U.S. and British navies to send reinforcements through
the Suez Canal, police and witnesses said.
The
demonstration, held in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, came as
three more U.S. warships passed through the canal on their way to
the Gulf, said harbour officials in Port Said, on the northern end
of the waterway.
The
vessels were identified as the USS Anzio, a guided missile cruiser,
the Cape St George, a guided missile destroyer, and the USS
Mitscher, an advanced Aegis-type destroyer.
Four
U.S. warships and two attack submarines on Saturday, March 29,
passed through the canal into the Mediterranean, where a naval task
force is deployed and engaged in launching air strikes on Iraq.
International
treaties require Egypt to allow vessels from all nationalities to
pass through the canal, with the possible exception of those
belonging to a country directly at war with Egypt.
Thousands
of students rallied on the campus of the University of Alexandria,
burning U.S. and British flags and carrying banners demanding that
the "Suez canal be shut before the U.S., British
aggression."
They
called on the authorities "to open the gates of Jihad," or
holy war, and marched behind a mock coffin on which they wrote
"the conscience of Arab leaders," a way to denounce Arab
regimes' failure to oppose or prevent the war.
In
Israel...
More
than 20,000 Arab Israelis gathered in the northern Israeli town of
Sakhnin as the annual Land Day protest at discrimination turned into
a massive show of support for Iraq and against the U.S.-led
invasion.
The
rally for Land Day, when Arab Israelis commemorate the death of six
compatriots protesting the confiscation of Arab lands on March 30,
1976, drew at least 20,000 people in a show of solidarity with
Iraqis and Palestinians.
The
crowd shouted slogans in support of Iraq and against Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"With
our blood and our souls, we sacrifice for you, Iraq,"
"Blair, Bush, just wait, the Iraqis will dig your graves,"
and "the Iraqi heroes will kick you out," the crowd
chanted, waving Palestinian flags and banners of the Islamic
Movement.
Israeli
police deployed reinforcements across the area, the main
concentration of the 1.1 million Arabs living in the Jewish state,
but remained largely outside the towns to avoid sparking clashes.
Speakers
at the demonstration also condemned the demolition of Arab Israeli
houses, said by the authorities to be built illegally, as political
discrimination, and protested against Israel's aggression in the
Palestinian territories, referring to the repression of the
Palestinian uprising.
Arab
Israelis, who represent 18 percent of the overall population, are
Palestinian Arabs who stayed on their land when the state of Israel
was created in 1948, unlike those Palestinians who fled or were
expelled from their homes after the Israeli occupation of their
lands.
But
they say they face discrimination and are not treated in the same
way as their Jewish counterparts.
In
Palestine…
Pro-Iraqi
demonstrations were also held in the Palestinian territories, where
tens of thousands had marched in protest against the U.S.-led
aggression since hostilities started 11 days ago.
In
the Nusseirat refugee camp, just south of Gaza City, 5,000 people
demonstrated with Iraqi and Palestinian flags, chanting "Death
to Israel and America," and "From Jenin to Baghdad, Arab
leaders have let us down."
In
the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, some 200 Palestinian
Christians staged a brief anti-war demonstration in the Church of
the Nativity which marks the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
Father
Protodius, an Orthodox priest leading Sunday prayers, said Bush and
Blair would not be welcome in the church should they ever wish to
visit.
Other
Protests
