Greenpeace flew a large banner behind an aircraft, reading "No War, Peace Now"

AUCKLAND, February 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – With mounting world opposition to any U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, millions of people around the four corners of the world are expected to demonstrate Saturday, February 15, against such war.

The mass rallies are expected to be on a scale not seen since the demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, bolstered by the presence of politicians and stars from the world of show business, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The mass protests kicked off in New Zealand where around 7,000 demonstrators filled the lawn in front of the parliament in Wellington, while a similar number marched along central Queen Street in Auckland, where yachting's America's Cup was taking place.

Environmental organization Greenpeace flew over the America's Cup village towing a large banner behind an aircraft, reading "No War, Peace Now".   

Prime Minister Helen Clark Saturday backed the continuation of weapons inspections over any call for a second U.N. resolution to authorize the use of force against Iraq.

"The New Zealand Government's position has been that so long as it's fruitful to continue (inspections) it should continue," said Clark.

In Thailand, some 3,000 anti-war demonstrators took to the streets of the capital city of Bangkok Saturday to protest the looming invasion.

Chanting slogans such as "nothing justifies war," and "no war, we want peace," the protestors marched to the American embassy and called on U.S. President George W. Bush and his British ally Prime Minister Tony Blair to seek diplomatic solutions to the crisis.

"We are protesting to seek peace and to stop Bush from making war," Niti Hassan, secretary general of the Council of Muslim Organizations of Thailand, told AFP. 

Some 80 organizations took part, including rights watchdog Amnesty International, environmental group Greenpeace, the global coalition United for Peace and Justice, and rights and development monitor Forum Asia.

Protest leaders were to present a letter to U.S. embassy representatives addressed to Bush and Blair and calling for reconsideration of their war stance.

"Before you make any decision regarding your plan to launch military action against Iraq, we urge you not to forget that for the vast majority of people in the world, nothing justifies war," a copy of the letter read.

It went on to say the two leaders were "turning a deaf ear to the chorus of opposition in your own countries and in the international community."

In Tokyo, a month-old sit-in protest continued Saturday in front of the U.S. embassy with a dozen activists holding up placards reading: "Koizumi says yes. We say no to the attack on Iraq," "We support Old Europe," and "War is not the answer."

Around 25,000 protestors rallied in downtown Tokyo Friday night, February 14.

In Britain anti-war activists were expecting more than 500,000 people to turn out Saturday for a London march which they hoped would be the country's largest protest in recent times.

"It's going to be the biggest demonstration Britain has ever seen. A conservative estimate would be half a million people," Patrick Vandenbulck, a spokesman for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, told AFP.

Paris and Berlin were also to be the focus of major demonstrations with marches and rallies additionally planned for Rome, Madrid, Athens and Istanbul.

German unions, rights groups and political associations were gearing up for what was expected to be the biggest peace rally in Berlin in a decade.

"It will be the most surprising peace mobilization since the big protests of the 1980s," when the United States deployed missiles in Germany aimed at the former Soviet Union, said an organizer.

New York is the focus of the main United States anti-war demonstration, with hundreds of thousands expected at a rally near U.N. headquarters.    

Celebrities were expected to join hands including movie stars Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon.

Malaysian activists are also expected to protest in the capital Kuala Lumpur and on the island state of Penang.

3,000 anti-war demonstrators accused Bush and Blair of "turning a deaf ear to the chorus of opposition" to war

In Pakistan, the Lahore-based Pakistan Anti-War Committee, a coalition of labor and political groups, said it had protests planned for 20 cities.

Demonstrations were also being held or planned in Taiwan and Hong Kong while in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal ex-British Gurkha soldiers were to rally in Kathmandu.   

On Friday, February 14, rallies were held across Australia in Perth, Hobart and Canberra to be followed on Sunday, February 16, by others in Brisbane, Darwin, Adelaide and Sydney.

More than 100,000 anti-war demonstrators were estimated to have jammed the centre of Melbourne, bringing the city to a standstill in one of the biggest demonstrations seen in the city since the early 1970s.

The rallies were being held after chief weapons inspector Hans Blix delivered a new report to the United Nations Security Council on Iraqi disarmament, which left the United States in a minority in arguing against further inspections.