Hamas-organized pro-Iraq march attracted about 15,000 protesters

JABALYA, Gaza Strip, February 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – With millions of people expected to pour onto the streets of cities worldwide on Saturday to protest a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq, thousands of anti-war pacifists demonstrated in the Middle East and Europe Friday, February 14, setting the scene for the weekend global protests.

The biggest demonstration was in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya which an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter on the scene said gathered around 15,000 protestors.

"From Gaza to Jenin, we are all martyrs," they chanted amid a sea of Palestinian and Iraqi flags, as U.S. and Israeli flags were set ablaze.

Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin reiterated his support to Iraq and called on the country to use martyr-styled operations to fight the planned U.S. offensive.

"We, the Palestinian people, are behind you, as we continue our own struggle to liberate our land," he told the crowd.

The demonstrators rallied after Friday prayers marking the end of Eid al-Adha, the most important feast in the Muslim calendar.

In Cairo, more than 2,000 people demonstrated against U.S. policy and called on Arab leaders to avert a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Police said riot squads were deployed in force around the Al-Azhar mosque following Friday prayers, but no incidents were reported.

Demonstrations in public are banned in Egypt under emergency legislation in force since 1981, but are generally tolerated on university campuses and mosque compounds.

Shouting "Down with the United States!", the protestors called on Islamic countries and governments to unit to stop U.S. troops waging war on Baghdad.

In a statement, the banned Muslim Brotherhood called on Muslims to express their refusal of a war in "days of rage and protest" on Saturday and Sunday.

In Jordan, several hundred of the 100,000 residents of the Bakaa refugee camp near the capital Amman marched through the narrow streets after the Friday prayers.

The marchers formed up outside the Al-Quds mosque after prayers and snaked through the streets for about an hour before dispersing peacefully.

The mosque's imam denounced U.S. President George W. Bush as "stupid" and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's main partner, as "clumsy."

The group, estimated to number no more than 500 people, was led by camp officials, and shouted anti-American slogans.

"From Baghdad to Amman, kill all the Americans," shouted a number of youths, brandishing banners of the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In the Gulf, about 100 chanting protesters gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Bahrain Friday to reject a possible U.S. war against Iraq.

Carrying flags of Bahrain, Iraq and Palestine, the demonstrators shouted "Down, down USA."

"We are trying to pass a message to the United Nations that Bahraini people want to stop this war," said Hassan al Aali, chairman of the National Committee for Supporting Iraqi People which organized the protest.

"We believe this war does not target Iraq. This war is targeting the whole region... is targeting Islam," said Aali, whose committee represents 35 political and professional societies.

"America wants more governments loyal to the American administration," he underlined.

Norwegian Activists Send Valentines Flowers to Anti-war States

Greenpeace activists in Norway on Friday showered the embassies of China, Russia, France and Germany with flowers and letters of thanks for their opposition to any war on Iraq.

"These countries deserve our support for their independent and courageous stance, even if we may disagree with certain other aspects of their policies," said Truls Gulowsen, a spokesman for the environmental and anti-war group.

"France, Russia and China, who have a veto, as well as Germany, are our main hope to stop a war now, while the so-called pacifist nations of northern Europe don't dare to put forward peace proposals," said Gulowsen.

Norway, usually among Washington's most loyal supporters within NATO, is waiting for the Security Council's conclusions before deciding on its official stance.

Pacifists Engulf Ship Carrying American Arms

Activists painted the words "No War" on ship carrying jeeps, tanks and other military vehicles

In Brussels, Greenpeace activists have encircled a supply ship chartered by the U.S. army in the northern Belgian port of Antwerp in protest at a prospective war on Iraq, a director of the environmental organization told AFP.

Some 40 activists on Zodiac speedboats, canoes and pontoons encircled the "Catherine" on which jeeps, tanks and other military vehicles were visible, said Greenpeace spokesman Jan Vande Putte.

"We are prepared to maintain this floating peace camp for several days if necessary," said Vande Putte.

Activists painted the words "No War" on the vessel's hull, and two members of the organization climbed onto the boat's deck. Police have taken three people in for questioning, according to Greenpeace.

The Belgian government confirmed recently that U.S. troops and military equipment have been passing through Antwerp port -- one of the largest in Europe --for several weeks.

Most of the soldiers and equipment are being transferred from U.S. bases in Germany and are headed for the Gulf region.

"A war in Iraq is illegal, inhuman and illegitimate. If it breaks out, it will have disastrous consequences for the Iraqi population, for the environment and for international security," Putte stressed.

Irish Rock Stars Call for Ban on Gulf-bound U.S. Planes

Some of Ireland's best-known musicians on Friday demanded that the government ban U.S. forces from using Irish airports to transport troops to the Gulf to fight in a possible war on Iraq.

Singers Sinead O'Connor, Shane McGowan and Christy Moore were among 38 stars who signed a letter published in the Irish Times, along with well-known groups including the Dubliners and Clannad.

"In the event of war in the Middle East, the Irish people would be implicated in any unjustified civilian losses and humanitarian crisis that would ensue," their letter said.

The musicians said the use of Ireland's southwestern Shannon Airport as a refueling stop for U.S. troop transporters undermined Ireland's traditional neutrality and constitutional commitment to the peaceful resolution of international disputes.

Publication of the letter came as Irish police warned they were expecting three hours of traffic disruption in Dublin on Saturday, when an anti-war protest is planned in the city.

Organizers predicted around 20,000 people would take part in the rally, when demonstrators are set to gather at the city's Garden of Remembrance before marching past Ireland's parliament and foreign ministry.

Hundreds Protest in Sarajevo Against U.S. War on Iraq

Bosnian youths hold banners during a demonstration in front of the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo

Some five hundred people marched through Sarajevo's main street on Friday to protest against a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq.

The protest, organized by the city's artists, gathered several generations of Bosnians, who endured a three and a half year war in the 1990s that claimed over 200,000 lives.

"The people of Sarajevo still remember war and feel a moral obligation to protest against it," Senad Pecanin, editor in chief of the independent Dani magazine, told AFP.

"I told my son this morning, to explain why should we join the protest, that in a small country (Iraq) there are many little children like him whom Bush is preparing to kill," Pecanin added, holding his five-year-old son's hand.

Protestors chanted "Death to Fascism, freedom to the people" and waved banners reading: "Oil-lympic games", "Blair-witch project", "Disarm USA", "Bushism = Fascism" and "For Bush or for Saddam? For neither!"

After a short march they converged in a park opposite the U.S. embassy, where they stayed for an hour.

"Like people throughout the world we do not support Saddam but why should America police the world? What is the purpose for the United Nations?" protestor Emir Sehic said.

"America was good to us. They helped us to end the war. But Bush is beginning to act like a dictator. He refuses peaceful solutions," said 72-year-old Djemal, a World War II veteran.

An opinion poll conducted by research agency Mareco Index Bosnia showed 74.6 percent of Bosnians oppose a military intervention in Iraq under current circumstances and only 16 percent support it, providing that it has U.N. approval.