FRANCE/DAY OF PROTEST: The citizens of France almost never take to the streets to protest in favour of their government's policy, but that is what will happen today when some 60 marches will be held across France, writes Lara Marlowe.
For the first time, the 82 per cent of the electorate who re-elected Mr Jacques Chirac last year actually support him.
Yet turnout for three earlier protests, in October, December and January, was at most a few tens of thousands. Organisers of today's march say they hope for 100,000 at the main demonstration in Paris, from the Place Denfert-Rochereau to the Bastille.
The Paris march will bring together 80 parties and associations under a coalition calling itself "No to war; yes to a world of justice, peace and democracy."
The socialist, communist and Green parties will be there, along with the main trade unions, human rights groups, and Christian, Jewish and Palestinian bodies.
All stress their opposition to Saddam Hussein and their wish to disarm Iraq peacefully.
The weekly magazine Marianne has been a chief organiser of the anti-war campaign.
Its editor-in-chief, Mr Jean-Francois Kahn, says today's protest is "the last-chance demonstration" because "only the public can stop the war - there's nothing else left".
He appealed yesterday to his compatriots to join the marches.
"If you don't want this war, you have a duty not to be passive accomplices," he said.
"Are we still capable in France - like the English, the Italians, the Spanish, who are demonstrating by the millions - of fighting for something other than our salaries, our pensions and selfish interests? Are we capable of fighting for values, for principles like peace and international law?"
French people are less motivated than other Europeans because they believe their government is truly representing their opinion. And marginal left-wing groups, such as the Trotskyist Lutte Ouvrière and the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, have been prominent in the marches.
"People don't want to associate themselves with them, but that doesn't mean they support war," an official says.
"The first time the Americans kill a lot of people in Iraq there will be huge demonstrations."
The silence in France is also due to the political eclipse of the left. Already enfeebled by last year's election losses, the socialists can find nothing to criticise in Mr Chirac's Iraq policy. They are more eager than the right to use France's veto in the Security Council, but Mr Chirac has in any case threatened to do so.
This week, former socialist ministers, including Mr Laurent Fabius and Mr Jack Lang, asked socialists to march against "unilateral and destructive war on Iraq".
For the first time, about 15 right-wing politicians will also take part in today's marches. The extreme right-wing National Front leader, Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen, supports Mr Chirac's policy, and has asked his followers to demonstrate.
But organisers have made it clear "their presence is not welcome".
Nor do they want Muslim fundamentalist groups to join in.