ROME, April 2: A few thousand demonstrators gathered in Rome’s Piazza Navona on Saturday in protest against the Nato-led military intervention against Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi’s forces.

Waving rainbow-coloured anti-war flags, the protesters, among them many pacifists, listened to speeches and chanted slogans.

Organisers of the rally included Emergency, a non-governmental organisation whose Italian founder, Dr Gino Strada, runs clinics in war-ravaged countries, including Afghanistan.

One banner read that “humanitarian wars do not exist.”

The UN Security Council resolution authorising the intervention against Libya invokes humanitarian reasons for getting involved militarily.

Italy is letting the Nato-led forces use its air bases, a key logistical part of the avowed goal to safeguard civilians in Libya.—AP