Huge masses of Australians joined millions of people world-wide to rally against war

SYDNEY, February 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Defying some of the biggest anti-war protests ever seen in Australia, Prime Minister John Howard showed no signs Sunday, February 16, of wavering in his support for a U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Up to a quarter of a million demonstrators jammed the center of Sydney Sunday in the biggest of a series of nationwide rallies to coincide with a coordinated weekend of global protest, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The rally, organized by a coalition of left-wing activists, trade unions, church groups and pacifists, filled a city park and stretched for two kilometers (a mile and a half) around, making crowd estimates difficult.

The Sydney protest is the largest seen in the city since the days of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, and there is deep cynicism among the crowds about American intentions in pursuing Saddam Hussein, according to the BBC online news service.

Jubilant organizers claimed an attendance of 250,000 while police declined to give an estimate.

Thousands of Muslims marched shoulder-to-shoulder with local stars of stage and screen, people of all ages, race and political persuasion, many carrying banners and placards emblazoned with the same plea for peace.

Organizers claimed another 100,000 protesters turned out in Brisbane, similar numbers in Adelaide and thousands more in Darwin after rallies in other state capitals Friday and Saturday.

"We want our prime minister to listen to us, we don't want war with Iraq," marcher Thomas Aitken said, according to the BBC.

Police estimated that more than 100,000 people brought Melbourne's city center to a halt Friday in one of the biggest rallies ever seen in the south-eastern city.

Howard “Not Backing Down”

Protestors accused Howard of not listening to them

Howard, one of the staunchest supporters of U.S. President George W. Bush's hard line stance on Iraq, arrived home Sunday after visiting the United States, Britain and Indonesia for talks on the Iraq crisis.

He held talks with Bush in Washington, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in Jakarta.

Australia and Britain are the only two countries so far to deploy military personnel to the Gulf in support of the U.S. military build-up, but Howard said he had not given up hope of a peaceful settlement.

Howard said he was not convinced the large crowds at anti-war rallies was evidence that public opinion was firming against war.

"What I'm doing here is what I think is right for Australia," he told Australia’s Channel Seven.

"This is not something where you read each opinion poll or you measure the number of people at demonstrations."

With 2,000 Australian military personnel positioned in the Gulf preparing for war, he said he had still to make a final decision on whether they would participate in any conflict.

Howard said he had not given up hopes for a new U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq, but it was now a matter for the Council to decide if its will was to be flouted or obeyed.

"Peace is a possible outcome if the world community speaks with one voice," he said.

Howard said in his discussions with Megawati he had discussed the charge that Australia was taking a stance against the Muslim world, but she had accepted his position on Iraq was not anti-Islam.

Howard “Out of Touch with The Public”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the scale of the anti-war rallies highlighted the fact that Howard was out of touch with public opinion.

Rudd also accused Australia of joining with the United States and Britain in an Anglo-Saxon troika which was not in Australia's national interest.

"The Prime Minister is increasingly, radically out of touch with the Australian people. He should start listening," Rudd told Network Nine.