Reuters.
LONDON (Feb. 14) - Millions of people are expected to take to the streets of
towns and cities across the planet at the weekend to demonstrate against a
looming U.S.-led war on Iraq in the biggest peace protests since the Vietnam
war.

The Australian city of Melbourne kicked off the global series of
demonstrations which will eventually spread to some 600 towns and cities
stretching from Antarctica to Reykjavik.

"This is a truly global movement. We are in contact with peace movements in
the United States and across Europe," Stop The War UK leader Andrew Murray
told Reuters on Friday.

As the world waited for United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to
give his verdict on whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has concealed
weapons of mass destruction, 100,000 people took to the streets of Melbourne.

Men, women and children joined in the protest chanting anti-war slogans and
waving banners that read: "No blood for oil," "Don't bomb Iraq," and "We are
all one."

The main target of the demonstration was U.S. President George W. Bush and
his thrust for war, but it was also directed at Australian Prime Minister
John Howard who has joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair in committing
troops.

On Saturday the protest movement will move west to Europe.

"We believe that the London demonstration will be one of the biggest and the
most pivotal because the British government is actively involved in the build
up to war and the British people definitely do not want war," Murray said.

Blair, who has unflinchingly supported Bush since the September 11 attacks on
New York and Washington, has seen his popularity plunge in successive opinion
polls as a result.

Prominent American peace campaigner Jesse Jackson has come to London
specially to address the throng, which some expect could top one million
people because Blair's support for Bush is seen as the key to war or peace.

"Iraq is a challenge that must be put in perspective. It is not the priority
that Bush and Blair have made it to be," he told BBC radio, urging Blair to
meet Saddam in Baghdad.

Police have said more than 500,000 people could attend the march in the
British capital.

VALENTINE'S DAY PROTEST

On Friday, twinning Valentine's Day with the anti-war movement, protesters
chained themselves and a pink heart to the railings across the entrance to
Blair's Downing Street office.

But Londoners are by no means alone in their distrust of the American
motivation for the conquest of Iraq and fear of the possible global
conflagration it could trigger.

Organizers in Rome are expecting more than one million people to attend
Saturday's peace march.

"This is not a political or union rally, this is a mobilization of feeling,"
said organizer Carlo Testini.

German peace organizations say they expected more then 100,000 people to join
protests around the country.

"People think it's time to finally do something themselves," organizer
Kathrin Vogler said.

In Paris, organizers said they expected move than 50,000 to take to the
streets.

"All the signs are extremely encouraging," said Arielle Denis, joint
president of the Peace Movement, which is coordinating Saturday's marches in
over 40 cities in France.

In leading anti-war mover Russia, a series of demonstrations are planned, as
they are across the United States.

In South Africa, whose President Thabo Mbeki and former president Nelson
Mandela have both spoken out strongly against the war, a series of
demonstrations are planned.

The United States and Britain have poured troops and armor into the Gulf,
insisting Saddam is concealing illegal weapons. But they are facing mounting
resistance from fellow United Nations Security Council permanent members
Russia, France and China who argue there is no proof of the weapons
allegations.

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