Demonstrators marched today through a number of European cities, ranging from London to Berlin and Budapest, in opposition to possible US strikes in retaliation for the devastating September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.
Around 1,000 protesters marched through the Belgian city of Liege under banners reading Make Love, Not War as European finance ministers discussed the September 11th assaults on the United States.
The organisers, a broad alliance of social rights groups and left-wing activists dubbed D14, staged a festive rally several hundred metres (yards) from the barricaded conference centre where the ministers met, and later dispersed peacefully.
Today, the first principle is to be anti-war and refuse to participate in U.S. action, D14 militant Mr George Robert said.
The rally broke up in late afternoon after a minute of silence for the dead in the September 11th terror attacks on the United States. In London, about 4,000 demonstrators gathered peacefully outside the Defence Ministry dressed in black and carrying pieces of paper saying : Stand shoulder to shoulder for peace and justice. No more violence. Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of Berlin and other German cities, shouting No Third World War and urging the United States not to answer attacks on its cities with more violence.
Carrying banners reading Enough deaths and No retaliation , the demonstrators gathered outside the Berlin city hall. Police said a few thousand people were on the streets. Smaller protests were also held in Cologne, Bremen and Kassel.
In Budapest, hundreds of people marched through the city centre to voice their opposition to possible US retaliatory strikes.
Police in Liege kept a stayed low profile, with horses, water cannon and other anti-riot gear well out of sight to avoid raising tensions as the colourful crowd of mostly young protesters converged at a nearby crossroads to the sound of heavy drum beats.
After the suicide plane attacks that left some 6,800 people dead and missing in New York and Washington, and European Union leaders' pledge of support for a US riposte, the militants coupled calls for more jobs and democracy in Europe with an anti-war message.