AUSTRALASIA/DAY OF PROTEST: At least 150,000 demonstrators marched through Melbourne in Australia yesterday in the first of a series of weekend protests across Asia.
The rally, which organisers said was the largest protest in Australia since the Vietnam War, began with mock air raid sirens to symbolise air attacks on Baghdad. Official police estimates put the number at 150,000, although organisers claimed it was closer to 200,000.
Protesters chanted anti-war slogans and waved placards reading "No War for Oil" and "Will the Pollies' Kids Go to War?" They were addressed by a range of celebrity protesters and politicians, including Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, who told the crowd: "This war is not Australia's war".
A series of marches were being planned through all of Australia's state capitals, while across Asia hundreds of thousands of anti-war demonstrators were preparing for a weekend of protests.
Australia has committed 2,000 troops to war preparations in the Gulf and the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, has been a staunch backer of President Bush's stance on Iraq.
However, opinion polls show only 6 per cent of Australians support war against Iraq without United Nations backing, and one in three oppose war under any circumstances.
Students, professors, artists and Muslims were planning a "March for Peace" through the Philippine capital, Manila, yesterday that was to end in a candlelight vigil outside the US embassy.
"We march to tell President \ Arroyo: Do not prepare for war," said organiser Father Allan Jose Arcebuche, a Roman Catholic priest. Ms Arroyo is an open supporter of Mr Bush's war on terrorism.
"The people understand that we have nothing to gain from this war. US aggression in Iraq serves US interests," he said.
In Japan, a demonstration is planned in front of the US embassy at noon today, and a parade from Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district was scheduled for later in the day.
At noon tomorrow about 30 protesters, including high school students, will gather at Tokyo's Narita airport before flying to Iraq where they hope to act as human shields against any attack.
In Thailand, about 5,000 people are expected to take part in demonstrations at a central Bangkok park, from where they will march to the US embassy.
Anti-war sentiment has even reached the tiny South Pacific island nation of Fiji, where the Fiji Anti-War Movement sent floral messages to foreign embassies imploring them to pressure the US and its allies to avoid war.
In New Zealand, Greenpeace said it would fly anti-war banners over yachting's America's Cup in Auckland, which starts today.
Several organisations in Hong Kong staged protests yesterday outside the US consulate.
A larger rally outside the US and British consulates was planned for today.
Islamic Asia is also due to mark its opposition to the war. Today, hundreds of Malaysian activists are expected to protest in the capital Kuala Lumpur and on the island state of Penang.
And in the Islamic republic of Pakistan, the Lahore-based Pakistan Anti-War Committee, a coalition of labour and political groups, says it has protests planned for 20 cities.
In India, only the eastern metropolis Calcutta expected any protests, with a rally organised for today by the province's ruling Marxist-led coalition.