PARIS, March 15: Hundreds of thousands of people around the world marched, chanted and carried banners Saturday to protest a looming war in Iraq, and thousands more planned to rally in several US cities later in the day.

The protests came on the eve of an emergency summit on Iraq on the Azores islands by the leaders of Britain, Spain and the United States, the chief advocates of using force to disarm Baghdad and oust President Saddam Hussein.

In Italy, an estimated 400,000 people descended on the economic and financial capital of Milan from all corners of the country.

In Spain, some 300,000 people marched in Barcelona and Madrid, according to police.

In France, some 55,000 people turned out for a rally in Paris and at least 4,500 people marched in the Mediterranean port of Marseille, according to police.

“With or without UN, no to war in Iraq,” chanted the Paris protestors.

In Greece, some 15,000 people summoned by anti-globalization groups marched in Athens behind a giant replica of Picasso’s celebrated anti-war painting, Guernica.

In Cyprus, some 2,000 Greek Cypriots banged drums, blew whistles and shouted anti-US slogans outside the US embassy in Nicosia.

In Turkey, some 5,000 people gathered at the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, where the United States has been unloading military equipment ahead of a possible invasion of Iraq.

In Russia, some 1,000 people rallied in front of the US embassy in Moscow.

“I love this man, he is like Stalin,” Nina Gulchyeva, a protester, said of Saddam, whose portrait was emblazoned on a banner that she carried. “Someone should bomb Washington.”

In London, approximately 2,000 people marched against war and some 20 Kurds gathered in front of the French embassy to protest that country’s stance in the Iraq crisis.

France has vigorously opposed the use of force against Baghdad and has promised to veto any resolution that automatically authorizes the use of force.

“(French President Jacques) Chirac is vetoing the hopes and lives of people of Iraq,” said Azos Rashid, a 20-year-old demonstrator.

The protest came on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the Halabja massacre, in which 5,000 Kurds are estimated to have died after the use of gas by the Iraqi army.

In Sweden, speakers paid tribute to Halabja Kurds at a rally in Stockholm.

“We are not forgetting that tomorrow will be exactly 15 years that Saddam Hussein gave the order to attack the Kurdish village of Halabja with gas, killing 5,000 innocent civilians,” said Lars Aangstroem, a deputy in the Swedish parliament. Some 10,000 people demonstrated in rallies in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

In Germany, demonstrations drew some 15,000 people in Munich, Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe, according to police estimates.

In Belgium, 28,000 people marched through the capital of Brussels, according to police estimates.

Rally organizers ran into trouble when dozens of militant youths attempted to lead the march brandishing a banner calling for jihad, or holy war, but the dispute was resolved and a banner reading “No to War” led the demonstrators.

On continental Europe’s westernmost point, the Cabo da Roca cliff that rises above the Atlantic ocean northwest of Lisbon, some 5,000 people planned to gather for a peace vigil as the leaders of Britain, Spain and the United States prepared to meet in the Azores.

Hundreds of thousands rallied in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. “America is the mother of terrorism,” they shouted.

In Baghdad, tens of thousands of protesters, including children, caused huge traffic jams as they marched through the capital carrying portraits of Saddam, banners to his glory and against war.

In Egypt, some 1,500 police outnumbered several hundred demonstrators at the University of Cairo.

Earlier rallies in Asia brought out thousands of people to the streets in Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.—AFP