In India, tens of thousands of Indian Muslims and Communist Party activists held protests against the U.S.-led war in towns and cities across the country.

In the capital New Delhi, nearly 20,000 Muslim protesters, some holding pictures of Saddam and plastic replicas of AK-47 rifles shouted slogans against Bush, witnesses said.

India's chief Muslim scholar, Maulana Syed Ahmad Bukhari, slammed Kuwait for supporting the U.S. and British invasion forces.

"The whole world is seeing Kuwait's hand in the massacre of Iraqi Muslims," he said.

In a separate demonstration, thousands of workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) also gathered in New Delhi, witnesses said.

"We want the U.S.-led forces to immediately withdraw from Iraq. The Indian government should also condemn the war and strongly take up the issue with the United Nations," said Swadesh Bhattacharya, CPI (ML) politburo member.

He said CPI-ML workers had staged anti-war protests in other Indian cities, including Madras, Guwahati and Ranchi.

Tens of thousands of pro-communist students in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta boycotted classes to stage protests march, witnesses said.

Waving red flags, the students held placards reading: "No more blood for oil" and "War-monger Bush, stop. The world needs food, not war."

10,000 Bangladeshis Join Hands

In the Banglaedeshi capital of Dhaka, thousands of people took to the streets after weekly Friday prayers to protest the U.S.-led aggression, witnesses said.

More than 5,000 activists from the Islamic Oikkya Jote, a small partner of the ruling alliance headed by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, marched through the streets shouting slogans against the war, Bush and Blair.

The protesters, dressed mostly in white prayer dresses and turbans and some brandishing photographs of Saddam, demanded an immediate end to the war.

Some also carried black ribbons and Iraqi flags.

Another 5,000 anti-war protesters from other Islamic groups staged separate rallies before and after the weekly prayers, witnesses said.

Leaders made fiery speeches warning that after Afghanistan and Iraq, the "Anglo-American aggressors" would try to crush Islam in other Muslim countries such as Syria, Iran and Pakistan.

In Indonesia, hundreds of people staged demonstrations in several cities Friday, with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Bush coming under fire.

More than 1,000 members of the Muslim-based Justice Party shouted "God is Great" and "USA go to hell" during a noisy protest at Makassar in South Sulawesi.

Protesters also rallied outside McDonald's restaurants in Java in protest at the U.S.-led war in Iraq, un-swayed by the fast food chain's assertion that its local outlets have benefited Indonesians.

"We warn Indonesians to shun American products because a portion of the profits goes to Israel," a protester told ElShinta radio during a demonstration outside a McDonald's at Semarang in Central Java.

The demonstrators threw away hundreds of leaflets handed out by the McDonald's branch management that claimed "McDonald's Indonesia has grown in the hands of Indonesian sons and daughters."

"Whatever they say it's still an American product," one protester insisted.

McDonald's and other U.S.-franchised outlets have been a target for demonstrators since the U.S.-led attack on Iraq began on March 20.

In the East Java town of Pasuruan, police there said about 5,000 Muslims held a mass prayer outside the parliament building where they condemned the war and prayed for the safety of Iraqis.

In Jakarta, dozens of people massed outside the U.N. mission and similarly called for Annan to step down. They held anti-war posters, including several reading "The U.N. has no power".

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government has denounced the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq as an illegal act of aggression but has warned protesters against violent demonstrations.

In Pakistan, anti-war rallies continued as about 100 people staged a demonstration outside the parliament building, where the senate (upper house) was discussing the Iraq situation. They released doves and lit torches as symbols of peace.

At least 40 protest marches were held in central Multan and adjoining districts of the populous Punjab province, condemning Bush and Blair for "violating the sovereignty" of Iraq and killing its people.

In the southern port city of Karachi, the prayer leader of the main Memon Mosque, Ghulam Raza Mustafai, called the U.S. a "Greater Satan" and said Iraq was a fellow Muslim state and "we should help its people."

Meanwhile, Muslim scholars denounced the war, with one leading religious figure calling on the faithful attending weekly prayers to prepare for jihad to defend Iraq against the invading U.S. and British forces.

"We should revive the spirit of jihad to defend Iraqi Muslims against U.S. aggression," the prayer leader of Islamabad's main Red Mosque, Mohammad Abdul Aziz, told the gathering of about 2,000 worshippers.

He also called for a boycott of U.S. and British products.

"If we cannot participate in the war, we can join another jihad of boycotting all the American consumer goods."

In Senegal's capital Dakar, more than 500 teachers, students and politicians marched to protest the Iraq war.

Demonstrators shouted "Bush, butcher," "Blair, killer" and "Sharon, carrion", as they moved through the city from the University of Dakar campus.

"We condemn the inauguration of the age of barbarism by America and Britain. We will take further action until the forces of aggression in Iraq pull out of the country," said Iba N'Diaye Diadji, secretary general of a teachers' union.

"We are marching to press the U.S.-British coalition to stop its war of aggression against Iraq," opposition member of parliament Awa Dia Thiam said. "This war is unjust and we condemn it."

Anti-war Austrian Lands in St Peter's Square

A 26-year-old Austrian pacifist gave the Swiss Guard a shock early Friday when his micro-light plane swooped over the Vatican and came to a bumpy landing in St Peter's Square.

The unidentified pilot was immediately arrested by waiting Italian police, who have jurisdiction over the square.

Six other Austrians who were part of the anti-war stunt were also arrested, Rome police chief Emilio Del Mese said.

The aircraft, a motorized hang-glider trailing a rainbow-colored peace flag, landed on the square around 6:45 am (0545 GMT), close to the apartment occupied by Pope John Paul II.

It had taken off shortly before from a nearby public park at Villa Pamphili.