In San Francisco, police wearing helmets and carrying nightsticks arrested more than 1,300 people on Thursday as a shifting mass of thousands of anti-war protesters commandeered the streets and paralyzed the evening commute. One protester died after tumbling from the Golden Gate Bridge. Authorities were investigating the death as a possible suicide.
In New York, more than 300 protesters snarled traffic in Times Square during the evening commute. Police arrested 36 people. Several smaller pro-government demonstrations were also held in some cities across the country.
In Portland, Oregon, protesters smashed in three windows at a McDonald’s restaurant, set a flag on fire and sprayed graffiti on a sign at a Shell gas station. More than 100 people were arrested.
Agencies add:
MIDDLE EAST: Chanting anti-American slogans, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of cities across the Middle East after Friday prayers for a second day of demonstrations against the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The biggest protests were in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Equally fiery rallies in support of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were held in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria and in the West Bank.
Tens of thousands of angry demonstrators marched on the US embassy in Sanaa, chanting slogans against the United States, Israel, and Arab leaders.
The Yemeni interior ministry said two demonstrators were killed in clashes with police, and 23 people — including 14 policemen — hurt. But police said earlier that three protesters and a policeman were killed.
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip almost 30,000 Palestinians took to the streets many calling on Saddam to bomb Tel Aviv. In the Gaza Strip, 15,000 people protested in the refugee camps of Jabalya, Rafah and Khan Yunis while an imam in Gaza City called for the “opening of the borders” for Arab volunteers to fight with the Iraqi army.
In Nablus some 5,000 people marched through the streets after the Israeli army lifted the curfew for the day, chanting slogans such as “America, the mother of terrorism.”
Palestinians also rallied in the refugee camps of Ain El-Helweh, in southern Lebanon, Yarmouk, near Damascus, and Wihdat, in Amman.
In Jordan, thousands of demonstrators clashed with security forces in the southern town of Maan, a radical stronghold with a history of violent anti-government protests. One policeman was injured after a teargas canister was hurled back at him. Hundreds of people also took to the streets of Amman and the northern city of Irbid, despite a government ban on unauthorized street rallies.
Police also used force in Cairo, where demonstrations moved to the city center after Friday prayers at the Al Azhar mosque.
In central Cairo Qasr el-Nil avenue clashes broke out when demonstrators hurled stones at anti-riot police. Anti-war activists said some 80 people were arrested.
Earlier at Al Azhar mosque, as many as 4,000 worshippers chanted “Down with America,” “Allah Akbar,” and “Victory to Iraq”, while some clambered onto the roof to hurl stones, shoes and rubbish at the security forces. Police said 10 people were injured in the clashes.
In Beirut, police clashed with some 1,000 students using water cannon to prevent them from marching on the US Embassy. The demonstrators and police hurled stones at each other, and several people were seen being treated by members of the Red Cross for injuries.
“Death to America! Death to Bush!” shouted the students. Similar slogans were heard at the Qatari and Kuwaiti embassies where 400 people gathered to blast the two Arab states for hosting US forces in the Gulf.
In the Bahraini capital Manama a few hundred young demonstrators hurled stones at police forces that were protecting the US embassy. Police responded with tear gas, forcing the protestors to disperse briefly, before regrouping to hurl more stones. The standoff took place despite an appeal for calm by King Hamad on Thursday.
In Khartoum, thousands marched through the streets after prayers and attempted to approach the US embassy, but were prevented by security forces as well as road closures.
“No American embassy in Sudan!” they shouted.
Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Tokyo and Melbourne on Friday to denounce the US-led war on Iraq.
“The United States must end this foolish war. I cannot sit still knowing that innocent Iraqi civilians are being killed by US attacks,” said Satoru Sugimura, a 25-year-old graduate student majoring in sociology. Anger was also directed at Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who announced Japan’s support for the war after the launch of US air strikes against Iraq.
In Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, thousands of demonstrators denounced their country’s role in the war in Iraq.
Building workers walked off construction sites to join shoppers, office workers and children who took time off school for a rally that stretched several blocks around the city, bringing lunchtime traffic to a standstill.
In Beijing, some 50 foreigners staged a protest near the US embassy, handing out leaflets calling for peace, witnesses said. Police did not intervene.
In Manila, some 100 Filipino Muslims staged a rally against the US-led attack on Iraq outside the main mosque in the Philippines capital.
In Bangkok, some 100 mainly Muslim anti-war demonstrators gathered outside the US embassy for a peaceful protest against the war.