February 17, 2003	Monday	Zul Hijjah 15, 1423

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SYDNEY, Feb 16: Hundreds of thousands of peace protesters marched here on Sunday, beginning a second day of global demonstrations calling on the United States not to go to war against Iraq.

“Stop the Bush fire and our little arsonist Howard,” said one sign, hoisted by a teenage girl in a bikini top and jeans, referring to the staunch support Australian Prime Minister John Howard has given US President George W. Bush.

The marchers thronged Sydney’s commercial heart, stopping traffic in a second day of protests. Police put the numbers at over 200,000. On Saturday, around 150,000 demonstrators had turned out in Sydney, part of a global day of anti-war protests that attracted six million people in 600 cities around the globe.

The peaceful Sydney crowd included many middle-aged people with children and some in wheelchairs.

In bright floral garb and sun hats, others banged drums and chanted 1960s Vietnam war-era protest songs as they set off for a march through the city of four million in temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius.

“We want our prime minister to listen to us. We don’t want war with Iraq,” said 34-year-old Thomas Aiken, a doctor, as he balanced his young son on his shoulders.

Australia, along with Britain, has been one of Washington’s strongest allies. Around 2,000 Australian troops have been deployed to the Middle East.

HOWARD UNCONVINCED: Howard reaffirmed his support for US policy on Iraq after meeting Bush last week.

However, almost two-thirds of those polled in Australia last month said their country should not be involved in an attack against Iraq unless it was endorsed by the United Nations.

Howard said he was not convinced the large anti-war rallies were evidence he was out of touch with the public.

“I don’t know that you can measure public opinion just by the number of people who turn up to demonstrations,” Howard told Australian television on Sunday.

“What I’m doing here is what I think is right for Australia.

“This is not something where you read each opinion poll or you measure the number of people at demonstrations,” Howard said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on the weekend the United Nations might need to pass a new resolution on Iraq and that arms inspections in Iraq could not continue indefinitely without Baghdad’s cooperation.

“Saddam must go. He cannot be let off the hook for what he has done to the Iraqi people,” said Hiras Nagi, who fled Iraq in the 1990s to live in Sydney and attended the protest with his wife and two small children.

“But the answer is not war. It will hurt too many innocent Iraqis,” he said.

PROTESTS NATIONWIDE: Protests were held in other Australian cities, where banners declaring “how many lives to a gallon?” and “Axis of idiots” were waved.

“I’ve got children and I don’t want them to end up in a world where there’s war,” screamed Louise Owen above the chanting at a protest in Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city.

“I figure there are mums around the world thinking and doing the same thing.”—Reuters