More than two million people have turned out across Europe protest against a war with Iraq. Demonstrators in major cities were asking President Bush not rush to war with Baghdad.
[Europe's largest rally appeared to be in Barcelona, Spain, with 1.3 million people.] In Rome, an estimated one million people turned out, and senior citizens and teenagers demonstrated side by side.
People carried banners saying "Peace is in our hands" and "Drop Bush, not bombs" and the streets were filled with rainbow-striped flags saying "Peace". Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni was quoted as saying the march was a demonstration against both terrorism and war.
There was another large turnout in London. Police estimate at least a half-million people marched through the streets in one of the biggest demonstrations in the British capital since World War II. Organizers put the figure much higher.
In the German capital, Berlin, an estimated half-million people protested, carrying banners saying "No Blood for Oil" and "Make Love Not War." German leader Gerhard Schroeder has been outspoken against rushing into war and has called for U.N. weapons inspections to be given more time to work.
France also wants to give diplomacy more time. In Paris tens of thousands of demonstrators jammed into the city center. There were also large protests in the Swiss and Dutch capitals.
Violence broke out at a rally in Athens, Greece where police fired tear gas during clashes with a group demonstrators near the American embassy.
Several hundred demonstrators broke away from a peaceful rally and threw rocks and fire bombs during clashes at a park near the embassy building. Tens of thousands of people took part in peaceful protests.
