US War on Iraq


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The World Movement Against US War Plans Against Iraq

On February 15, 2003 perhaps more than ten million people in more than 600 cities around the world marched against US plans to attack Iraq, in the largest world-protests since the Vietnam War.  The largest public protest in Britain's history saw about 1 million people gather at Hyde Park in London.  Between 300,000 and 500,000 people demonstrated in Berlin, at the largest rally since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Nearly 1 million people turned out in Rome.  Combined, 300,000 demonstrators walked in France, 500,000 in Germany, one million in Italy, and two million in Spain.  More than 200,000 people, some waving banners asking "How many lives per litre?" thronged the streets of Sydney, Australia.  10,000 protested in India's eastern city of Calcutta with banners reading "No blood for oil" and 5,000 gathered in a Tokyo park.  People protested on five continents in an unprecedented display of global coordination.

Below: photos of protests since the war started

Here are just a few photos.


 

Getty Images
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world staged antiwar protests in scores of cities, including Amsterdam. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Associated Press
In front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Associated Press
Turkish peace activists in downtown Istanbul.


 Agence France-Presse
Demonstrators passing the Colosseum in Rome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Associated Press
Cibeles Square and Alcala Street in Madrid.
 


 

Vincent Laforet/The New York Times
In London, 500,000 to 750,000 people rallied in the streets and in Hyde Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Vincent Laforet/The New York Times
People from around the world came to Hyde Park to demonstrate and listen to speakers, including Jesse Jackson.


 

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times
In New York City organizers put the crowd 400,000.

 

Since the war began 
On 3-20-03, the masses rise around the world again, most peacefully, some with fury

    March 20 — The start of the war in Iraq drew a wave of condemnation, a degree of resignation and little support from many governments and people in much of the world.  Only hours after the first American fire fell on Baghdad, tens of thousands of demonstrators brought Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, to a standstill. By this evening, hundreds of thousands of protesters in cities across several continents were angrily denouncing the war as cruel to Iraq's civilian population, unnecessary and illegal.  Protesters in many countries angrily denounced the United States and demanded an end to the Iraqi war, prompting governments to take strenuous security measures to protect American embassy buildings and other symbols of the American presence.
      In France, which is the most vocal opponent of the war, the American embassy and consulate buildings, just off the Place de la Concorde, were under heavy guard. Thousands of demonstrators assembled there, chanting anti-war slogans.
     In Berlin, tens of thousands of students and others marched from the Alexanderplatz, in the city center, past the heavily guarded American embassy building and through the Brandenburg Gate, waving banners that read, "Stop the Bush Fire" and "George W. Hitler." Similar protests were reported in Stuttgart, Munich, Rostock and Saarbrücken.
     In Italy, tens of thousands of antiwar demonstrators marched in Milan and Venice in the north; in Rome, crowds marched toward the American embassy, at the foot of the broad Via Veneto, but were held back by riot police.
     In Athens, an estimated 80,000 demonstrators, mainly students and labor activists, marched peacefully, chanting anti-American slogans. American flags were burned outside the embassy building,
     In Britain, thousands of antiwar campaigners blocked roads and traffic in cities throughout England, Wales and Scotland.
     In Spain, another supporter of Mr. Bush, hundreds of chanting protesters stood outside the American embassy in Madrid.
     Anger and frustration at the war was expressed by demonstrators in many other cities, and further marches and protests were called for Friday and Saturday.


Associated Press
Thousands of protesters honored their pledge to "stop business as usual" the day after bombing began in Iraq, walking out of classes and work, shutting down major roads and converging on plazas, bridges, military bases and federal buildings. In Chicago, a huge crowd gathered in Federal Plaza.

Agence France-Presse		Students in Kassel, Germany.

Associated Press
Outside the United States Consulate in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Associated Press
Several thousand lay down in Times Square, stopping traffic on Broadway.

Associated Press
Demonstrators in Chicago walked through traffic after shutting down Lake Shore Drive during the evening rush hour.

Reuters
Mounted police in Sydney, where thousands clogged city centers.

Agence France-Presse
Police clashed with protestors in Madrid ...

Associated Press
... and Seoul.

Associated Press
Police in Albuquerque held back a crowd of demonstrators.

Suzanne DeChillo
In Times Square, 21 people were charged with disorderly conduct.

Reuters
San Francisco was the antiwar movement's epicenter. Demonstrators made the Bay Bridge and about 40 intersections impassable during the morning rush hour, set fire to bales of hay in the shadow of the Transamerica Building, opened fire hydrants and smashed police car windows.

Reuters		The clashes in San Francisco resulted in more than 1,000 arrests. Alex Fagan, the assistant chief of police, said the situation deteriorated into "absolute anarchy" by late afternoon.