Tens of thousands join European anti-war protests

Anti-war protesters have taken to the streets of Europe in their thousands to hold the first major demonstration since the fall…

Anti-war protesters have taken to the streets of Europe in their thousands to hold the first major demonstration since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The organisers of the London event have called for British troops to be pulled out of Iraq, and said up to 100,000 people from across the UK were expected to join them.

A protestor stands in front of a placard in Hyde Park, London

The day of protest has been organised by the Stop the War Coalition, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain.

A CND spokesman said he estimated the number of people who gathered in Hyde Park before the march set off ran into the tens of thousands.

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In February, around a million people marched through Londontrying to prevent the war in the biggest political protest marchin British history.

However, numbers are much lower across Europe than in the months running up to the beginning of the war.Several thousand people marched in Dublin today, compared to 100,000 before the war.

Coordinated protests in Berlin and other European cities also called for an end to the US-led occupation and Israel's hold on Palestinian territory, but the small turnout was a faint shadow of huge pre-war peace rallies.

In Spain, which gave Bush political but not military support in the war, protesters planned to march in the evening but were unlikely to match the hundreds of thousands who rallied before and during the war.

About 2,000 protesters gathered in the Greek capital Athens carrying placards such as "Stop imperialist intervention" and "Occupiers out of Iraq".

Marches due in New York and San Francisco later today.