BERLIN, May 21: Thousands of pacifist and anti-globalisation demonstrators gathered in Berlin on Tuesday on the eve of a visit by US President George W. Bush to protest his plans for taking the war on terrorism to Iraq.

Shouting slogans such as “Stop War” and carrying banners that read “Warmongers Unwelcome” and “War is Terror”, police said some 5,000 activists marched down the main Unter den Linden avenue in east Berlin amid heavy security.

More than 240 organizations, as well as officials from parties represented in the city and national governments, have signed on for rallies Tuesday under the slogan “Axis of Peace.”

Bush is expected to try to gain European backing for action against Iraq in a speech to Germany’s lower house of parliament Thursday.

“We all know that a war against Iraq is just around the corner but we want to show that we Europeans do not support this,” said Tristan Falk, 20, a mathematics student.

In a move unthinkable during the Cold War, protests include members of the Greens, junior partners in Schroeder’s ruling coalition, and the leftist Party of Democratic Socialism, which shares in power in the city government and is the successor to the party that ruled communist East Germany.

“I came today to protest against Bush’s foreign policy. War is an unacceptable way to solve conflicts,” said Martin Harnack, 52, who works for the PDS.

“This is not a protest against America or the American people. It is against war.”

A minor scuffle was reported when a small crowd turned up for a separate Greens rally that was critical of expanding the war on terrorism.

The city of Berlin said it had mobilised 10,000 security personnel for the visit.

Armine, a 21-year-old political science student, said he had turned out “against the unilateralist, war-hungry and inhumane policies” of the US government.—AFP