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Clashes at Madrid anti-war protest
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Violence broke out in Madrid as protests against war in Iraq took place across the world Saturday. Police fired blanks, injuring 10 people, and chased some of the 100,000 protesters through streets in downtown Madrid. A policeman was injured and arrests were made. The protests were reminiscent of events Friday when 50 people were injured and four demonstrators arrested. Saturday's demonstration saw people take to the streets carrying placards saying "No a la guerra," and "No to the war." The mile-long demonstration chanted for prime minister Jose Maria Aznar to resign over his staunch support for the U.S. military action. Police had diverted the route planned by unions and leftist political parties away from the prime minister's compound. It is not clear why the violence broke out. London organizers estimated 500,000 protesters marched through the city to Hyde Park, where politicians, union leaders and groups of schoolchildren were among the crowd. Police said the number was about 200,000. Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop the War campaign, told CNN: "It's all very well these slogans like 'Shock and awe,' this Rambo-style rhetoric. Every bomb going off almost inevitably means dead civilians." In the United States, large demonstrations swept through the cities of San Francisco, New York, Washington and Chicago on Saturday -- some on favor of the war and others against. (Full Story)
A New York police source estimated more than 100,000 people participated in the march, with placards backing the pro-U.N. weapons inspectors line taken by France's President Jacques Chirac. And on Saturday, anti-war activists said they would stage a "die-in" and mock funeral procession at one of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's six homes in New Mexico. Meanwhile, earlier Saturday, thousands took to the streets in New Zealand and Australia for noisy demonstrations condemning the U.S.-led attack. Protesters shouted "no blood for oil." About 4,000 people, many blowing trumpets and banging drums, some splattered with mock blood, marched to the U.S. Embassy in the New Zealand capital Wellington, while several thousand attended a rally in Auckland. And in Brisbane about 3,000 protesters, some sporting gas masks and black arm bands, marched through the streets, bringing traffic to a standstill.
About 2,000 protesters rallied outside the heavily fortified U.S. embassy in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, shouting anti-U.S. slogans before marching to the U.N. office a few blocks away. Nearly 5,000 marched to the U.S. embassy in the Indian capital New Delhi. Some carried bottles, which they said contained a mixture of blood and gasoline, and shouted: "Take this, this is what you want, and stop attacking Iraq." More protests are planned across Asia for Sunday. Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets in cities across America, Asia, Europe and some Arab capitals on Friday. (Full story) -- CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman contributed to this report.
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