Tens of thousands of people, led by some top Hollywood stars, demonstrated on the streets of the United States' largest cities to protest President George W. Bush's US intention to invade Iraq.
In New York on Sunday, at least 15,000 people gathered in Central Park to denounce Washington's stance towards Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Protesters in such cities as New York, San Franciso and Los Angeles chanted slogans and held up placards bearing slogans such as "Change the US administration, not Iraq's."
In downtown San Francisco, about 5,000 people protested in the city's Union Square area, according to the local police department. "This was a fairly significant demonstration, but it was entirely peaceful and no arrests were made," Paul Yep, a spokesman with the San Francisco Police Department told AFP.
In Los Angeles, some 3,000 people participated in protests held near the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles. Police said that demonstration was the largest so far against Washington's Iraq policy, but reported no violence or arrests.
More protests took place in other US cities and some were planned for Monday in such places as Chicago, Seattle, Washington, Portland in the state of Oregon, Houston, Atlanta in the southern state of Georgia and Denver in Colorado.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has been privately warned by his top law officers that a war to bring about regime change in Iraq would be illegal.
The Financial Times reported that Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith and Solicitor-General Harriet Harman have given clear advice that military action with the aim of removing Saddam Hussein would breach the UN charter.
The advice to Blair was that international law permitted military action in support of existing UN Security Council resolutions requiring Saddam to give up his weapons of mass destruction, reported the FT. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
