A peace sign, too late now?

SYDNEY , April 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - About 10,000 anti-war protestors marched through central Sydney Sunday, April 13, calling for peace in Iraq and the immediate withdrawal of Australian troops from the conflict.

Religious leaders from the Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish faiths led the crowd in prayers for peace at the rally to mark Palm Sunday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The protestors then marched through the city centre chanting "bring the troops back home" and " U.S. out of Iraq ".

The demonstration passed off peacefully, unlike recent student demonstrations where Middle Eastern youths clashed with police.

While the event, and another march of 5,000 people in Melbourne , did not attract the 100,000-plus crowds seen at rallies before the war began, organisers said it still showed significant opposition to Australia 's role in the war.

"People do not want Australian troops to be part of America 's blatant power play," Greens politician Ian Cohen said.

He denied numbers were down because people largely felt the fighting was over.

Meanwhile, two Australian Hercules planes left Sydney on Sunday carrying almost seven tonnes (7.7 short tons) of urgently needed medical supplies for hospitals in Baghdad .

Another Hercules arrived in Baghdad Sunday carrying medical supplies from the Australian warship HMAS Kanimbla, which is stationed in the Gulf.

Underwater Demonstration 

Occupation, not liberation

In Jakarta divers at Sea World marine park staged an underwater demonstration, unfurling a three-meter-long banner reading "Stop war, stop violence" inside the aquarium.

Some 5,000 Muslims rallied Sunday near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta to pray for the safety of the people of Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion, police said.

Members of Islamic boarding schools in and around Yogyakarta in Central Java gathered after midday prayers outside a mosque at the Almunawir school in Krapyak.

Earlier Sunday more than 200 members of the Indonesian Muslim Students Association held a peace march in Central Jakarta to protest at the atrocities by the U.S. and its allies in Iraq .

The protesters, including many veiled girls, stopped at the United Nations mission and at the U.S. embassy before disbanding.

Indonesia , a strong critic of the war, has seen almost daily protests.

The government of the world's largest Muslim-populated nation is now pressing for a key United Nations role in the new administration following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the interim administration should not be a puppet government of the U.S.

"The new government should be representative (of the people) and should be legitimate. The United Nations holds the key for that," he was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying.  

On Saturday, April 12, thousands of antiwar demonstrators gathered in central Washington to launch a new phase in their protest movement, blasting the U.S. toppling of Iraq 's Saddam Hussein as the first in a series of occupation wars.