LOS ANGELES, Jan 12: Thousands of Los Angelenos, comprising Pakistanis, Arabs, Iranians and Americans, took to the streets on Saturday afternoon to protest against war hysteria and brazen detentions of Muslims on the pretext of special registration.

The 3-hour rally took place in front of the downtown federal building, which houses the office of Immigration and Naturalization Service, where Middle Eastern immigrants were subjected to atrocities last month.

The rally was attended by several members of the Democratic Party, including Congresswoman from California, Maxine Waters, and other political activists.

“In my opinion this special registration is not going to lead us anywhere except making our great country a police state,” Waters told Dawn at the rally.

Waters said instead of focusing too much on special registration of Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries and war on Iraq, the Bush administration must pay attention to the fast-brewing crisis in North Korea.