San Francisco ends world peace rallies

" Now everybody is out in the streets "

Rallies and marches have been held in hundreds of towns and cities worldwide, attracting millions of people opposed to a US-led war against Iraq.

Earlier in the day, a quarter of a million people demonstrated in the Australian city of Sydney - the biggest peace rally there since the Vietnam War.

Saturday saw huge protests in Berlin, London, Madrid, New York, Paris and Rome.

A big rally was also staged on Saturday in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, where state media have given blanket coverage to the anti-war demonstrations around the world.

And on Sunday a ceremony was held to inaugurate a memorial for more than 400 people Iraq says were killed when US missiles hit the Amariya bomb shelter in February 1991.

'Catastrophic path'

The San Francisco protest had been delayed by a day to avoid clashing with the Chinese New Year parade.

Writer Alice Walker, actor Danny Glover, and singers Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez joined the crowds in the city.

"Finally it seems there is a worldwide movement saying this is obviously a catastrophic path we're on," said protester Deborah Hoffmann.

"There are a million people around the globe who have shown they feel the same way," said Bonnie Raitt.

The streets around the United Nations headquarters were packed with crowds, claimed by organisers to be well in excess of the 100,000 demonstrators they had hoped for.

" We want our prime minister to listen to us, we don't want war with Iraq "
Thomas Aiken, Sydney, Australia

Activists, trade unionists, students and church groups were among those taking part, bearing banners with slogans such as "Give Peace a Chance " and "No Blood for Oil".

Among those attending the rally were celebrities and activists such as Susan Sarandon, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Angela Davis.

Mr Tutu told the crowd that those who wished to wage war on Iraq "must know it would be an immoral war".

Demonstrations were also held in scores of other towns and cities across the US and Canada.

The weekend of demonstrations followed Friday's UN Security Council session, where chief weapons inspector Hans Blix issued a largely positive assessment of the UN's disarmament efforts in Iraq.