January 18 & 19, 2003 - Jan 18: National Rally and March in Washington, DC; Jan. 19: Rally, March and Civil DIsobedience
Photos copyright Charlie Jenks, 2003
1/26/03
Traprock Peace Center, 103A Keets Road, Deerfield, MA 01342; 413-773-1633; fax 413-775-7507
charles@mtdata.com

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As up to 500,000 gathered in Washington, DC, about 200,000 in San Francisco and many thousands of others elsewhere in small and large gatherings throughout the US, protests were taking place all over the world. The Independent (UK) reported the following numbers in other countries: (courtesy of http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/).

France
UP TO 200,000 people took to the streets in 40 different towns and cities. The biggest protest was in Paris, where 20,000 marched. "This was the biggest day of anti-war demonstrations in France since the last Gulf War in 1991," says Nick Barrett in Paris.
"This is the beginning of a mass movement. The atmosphere has changed. There is growing public opinion against the war. Now we are organising for a national demo in Paris on Saturday 15 February."
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Rest of Europe
* AROUND 20,000 protesters marched to a US base on the outskirts of Madrid.
* Some 5,000 demonstrated in Rostock in eastern Germany, with smaller protests in other parts of Germany.
* There were also 5,000 people on the streets of Florence in Italy. Another 4,000 marched in Rome.
* Some 5,000 protested in Gothenburg, Sweden. "It was a very lively and ethnically mixed march," says Asa from Sweden.
* Around 5,000 marched in Brussels in Belgium and 2,000 protested against Shannon airport in Ireland being used by the US air force to refuel planes.
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Canada
TENS OF thousands of people voiced their resistance to war on Iraq. Some 25,000 protested in Montreal, 20,000 in both Vancouver and Toronto, 15,000 in Halifax and 3,000 in Ottawa, and thousands more in smaller towns.
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Middle East
THERE WAS a protest of 4,000 people in Beirut in Lebanon. The left wing Labour MP George Galloway joined the demonstration outside the UN offices.
In Cairo, Egypt, over 1,000 protesters faced off with riot police as they called for no war against Iraq and for Egypt's government to refuse to allow the US to use the Suez Canal. Thousands of Palestinians protested in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarm.
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Pakistan
THERE WERE more demonstrations in Pakistan on 17 and 18 January than for many years. In the city of Karachi alone there were five protests in the city centre. These were organised by left wing political parties, trade unionists and non-governmental organisations.
* There were also marches of 2,000 in Ankara in Turkey and a similar number in Christchurch, New Zealand.
All of these countries, and many others, will see powerful protests again on the global day of action against war on 15 February.