VARIOUS: PROTESTERS TAKE TO STREETS ACROSS EUROPE TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST ANY U.S.-LED ATTACK AGAINST IRAQ

Record ID: 645819

  • Title: VARIOUS: PROTESTERS TAKE TO STREETS ACROSS EUROPE TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST ANY U.S.-LED ATTACK AGAINST IRAQ
  • Date: 16th March 2003
  • Summary: SLV PROTESTER WEARING MASK TO MIMIC US PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AND WAVING MOCK PETROL PUMP HANDLES IN THE AIR
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY / BRUSSELS, BELGIUM / ATHENS, GREECE / NEAR MORON DE LA FRONTERA, SEVILLE AND BILBAO, SPAIN / PARIS, FRANCE / MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • City:
  • Country: Greece Russian Federation Belgium France Spain
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADPQCMZOP5Y5F4TCFHEVJY6HM
  • Story Text: Crowds of protesters have taken to the streets throughout Europe to say "No" to any U.S.-led attack against Iraq.
    In Germany on Saturday (March 15, 2003) hundreds of anti-war activists staged a sit in protest at a U.S. air base near Frankfurt that the United States uses to transport troops and supplies to the Gulf region. Police carried some of the protesters away. Police sources initially said about 1400 people took part in the demonstration.
    Belgian police said around 30,000 people walked through downtown Brussels, including Deputy Prime Minister Johan Vande Lanotte during anti-war protests on Saturday. Although the march had been organised by non governmental organisations it was backed by several political parties such as the Green Party and the Socialists.
    In Greece police said 20,000 people marched to the U.S.
    embassy in Athens. The protest started from Syntagma Square in the centre of Athens and passed the Greek parliament before culminating outside the US embassy.
    Organisers in Spain were hoping to draw crowds of more than a million in one of Europe's biggest marches later in the day, matching the number seen in Spain during the global protests on February 15.
    Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has been a staunch supporter of the tough U.S. and British stance on Iraq and will meet President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Atlantic Azores islands on Sunday (March 16) for crisis talks.
    Police were expecting up to 200,000 to turn out in anti-war protests across France, with a march setting off in the French capital in mid-afternoon.
    French President Jacques Chirac has vowed to use his veto at the United Nations if Washington seeks U.N. backing for a resolution that permits military action against Iraq.
    And in Russia nearly 1,000 people gathered across Moscow on Saturday to protest a possible war against Iraq.
    Opinion polls have shown that an overwhelming majority of the nation backs its government in opposing U.S. calls to use force against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in order to stop alleged programmes for weapons of mass destruction.
    "Bush is making clear to everyone that he will remove whatever leader he doesn't like," said one Moscow protester.
    As U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for crisis talks in the mid-Atlantic on Sunday, Britain said on Saturday that a U.S.-led war against Iraq was increasingly likely and maybe just days away.
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