BERLIN, May 22: US President George W. Bush arrived on Wednesday in Berlin, where thousands of anti-war demonstrators have taken to the streets, at the start of a European tour to win backing for his fight against terrorism.

Following a pacifist, anti-Bush march of at least 17,000 people through central Berlin Tuesday, some 20,000 protesters had gathered ahead of Bush’s arrival Wednesday evening.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had declared “unlimited solidarity” with the United States after the September 11 terror attacks but has since said that Germany would not back an attack on Iraq without a UN mandate.

European leaders are increasingly wary about being dragged into a war against Iraq.

Bush, who has warned about the need to neutralize Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s potential ability to use weapons of mass destruction, had said before leaving Washington Wednesday “that our alliance must remain tough in the war against global terror.”

Bush made no comments upon arriving at Berlin’s Tegel airport Wednesday evening.

He was to meet later with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit at a literary cafe in Berlin for coffee and dessert near the Brandenburg Gate and the hotel where he will spend the night.

Bush was to speak to the German parliament in the historic Reichstag building Thursday.

Berlin has deployed one of the biggest security forces in its history to protect the US president during his 19-hour visit, with 10,000 officers on the streets in addition to an estimated 600 American security personnel.

Police said the Pariser Platz square area before the Brandenburg Gate and outside Bush’s hotel would be “hermetically sealed” while he was in town.

Anti-Bush rallies were planned throughout Germany on Wednesday evening, from Aachen in the west to Dresden in the east. —AFP