Middle East
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U.S. embassies throughout the Middle East were closed as large-scale protests erupted in Israel, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.
Some of the protests featured anti-American as well as anti-war sentiments.
Thousands of students gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt, some holding up posters of Saddam Hussein.
A group of 4,000 Palestinian protesters in Amman, Jordan rallied in a mosque courtyard to hear cleric leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Hamza Mansour encourage them to fight back by martyrizing themselves.
“The Americans are targeting not only Iraq but also our nation, our dignity, and our Holy Land,” said Mansour, addressing the crowd.
An editorial in the Tel Aviv Israel newspaper Ha’aretz said, “It is indeed a colonialist war. The Anglo American decision to intervene in the domestic affairs of a third world country, to disarm it and change its government, is a decision from another era.”
In Oman, the capital city Ruwi’s daily English-language newspaper the Times of Oman said, “Following a so-called preventive war against Iraq, all warmongering countries can arrogate to themselves the power to invade weaker nations, not least their neighbors, on the principle of preemption.”
Asia
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In Lahore, Pakistan, 100,000 protested in a demonstration held on Sunday, the largest of several held in Pakistan since the start of the war.
Banners at the demonstration read “No to U.S. Terrorism,” and “Iraqi Muslims, We are With You.”
India, the world’s largest democracy and home to the second largest Asian population of Muslims after Indonesia, saw protests held in cities throughout the subcontinent.
Over the weekend 15,000 protested in Calcutta, 5,000 in New Delhi, and 6,000 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where a half-day labor union strike put business at a standstill.
“Ultimately, whether the world is spared the consequences of [Muslims’] anger is not going to depend on the autocratic rulers of the Islamic world on whose support the United States is counting for removing another autocratic ruler from power,” said the English-language daily New Delhi Outlook. “It is going to depend on the perceptions and feelings of rage of the ordinary Muslims in the streets, mosques, and madaris.”
“Mark the day: March 20, 2003. History will record it as the day when bombs, instead of international laws, baldly became the most important factor in regional and world conflicts,” China’s government-owned newspaper Renmin Ribao said.
In Manila, about 400 activists banged pots and pans together outside of the U.S. embassy. Part of Bush’s “coalition of the willing,” the Philippines’ pro-government newspaper the Manila Times said it was certain of U.S. victory. “What is uncertain, though, is the likely shape of geopolitics in the Middle East and the future of the United Nations, whose reputation for settling international disputes has been tarnished by the unilateral action of the United States.”
Five hundred peaceful protesters gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, and similar sized protests were held in towns throughout the country. One such protest in the central Thailand town of Ayutthaya featured a trained elephant led along by its master with a photo of George W. Bush taped to its trunk, and “No War” chalked across the elephant’s massive forehead.
Over 10,000 marched in Tokyo to protest Japan’s support for the war.
“If our government can’t stand up to the United States, then we citizens have to,” Japanese housewife Fumiko Nakajima told an AP reporter.
Africa
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Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, accused the U.S. of cutting military aid to the country because of its stance against the war on Iraq. The U.S. embassy and consulates were closed in the capital Abuja, and in Lagos, Africa’s largest city. The government banned protests for fear of violence.
In Mauritania, a predominantly Muslim nation in northwest Africa, thousands of protesters were repelled from the U.S. embassy with water cannons and tear gas in the capital city, Nouakchott.
A Sudanese student was killed by police as hundreds protested in front of the U.S. embassy in the capital city Khartoum.
The 116-member Non-Aligned Movement, led by South Africa, Malaysia, and Cuba, condemned the military action against Iraq as “an illegitimate act of aggression.”
An editorial in Kampala, Uganda’s, newspaper New Vision said of the U.S. government, “It attacked a sovereign state without a popular U.N. mandate. Worse still, it did not respect the millions who demonstrated against the war throughout the world. Today the world witnesses the birth of global dictatorship.”
Europe
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“I’m ashamed to be Danish,” said one protester in Copenhagen, referring to Denmark’s decision to support the U.S.-led war. 10,000 protesters gathered near the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen.
London’s mayor Ken Livingstone said Saturday’s protest held in the British capital was “the largest demonstration against a war that is in progress in British history.”
Despite Spain’s support for the war, between 500,000 and 750,000 protesters marched in Barcelona, Spain, and another 250,000 rallied in the capital, Madrid.
An estimated 90,000 marched in Paris on Saturday, with a total of 150,000 protesting in cities across the country.
In Rome, over 200,000 farmers marched into the city, paralyzing traffic.
“I would like to cut out Bush’s tongue,” one angry Italian protester told Reuters television. “This is a war for the rich, and those who pay in the end are the poor people.”