WASHINGTON, March 15: Washington rang again with anti-war slogans on Saturday as thousands of protesters marched around the White House to tell President Bush not to not go to war against Iraq.

They were supported by 70 members of Congress who asked Bush to give UN weapons’ inspectors more time. “Let us give peace a chance. Let us pull back from the brink of war,” the former lawmakers said in a statement.

On Friday, police in San Francisco arrested nearly 70 protesters when they tried to shut the Pacific Stock Exchange. Protests continued on Saturday as well.

Encouraged by a sunny Saturday morning, protesters in Washington unfurled their banners and went around the city collecting donations in red buckets to help the organizers who brought thousands of people from places as far away as Florida and Iowa in the Midwest.

People started pouring into the route of the march “from the Washington Monument to the White House and back” early Saturday morning as buses continued to bring more demonstrators every hour.

“No war, no blood for oil,” they shouted keeping time with the drums that were beaten all day. “Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld: the real axis of evil,” said one banner. “No to mother of all bombs,” said another. “Don’t kill the children of Iraq,” shouted a protester while struggling to unfurl her banner with the help of others.

Protests were called in a dozen cities worldwide on Saturday in what could be a last chance to voice mass opposition before bombs start falling. Activists also planned peace vigils in several cities for Sunday evening.