Hundreds of thousands of people around the world marched, chanted and carried banners Saturday to protest a looming war in Iraq, on the eve of an emergency summit by leaders of Britain, Spain and the US.
In Italy, an estimated 400,000 people descended on the economic and financial capital of Milan from all corners of the country.
In Spain, some 300,000 people marched in Barcelona and Madrid, according to police.
In France, some 55,000 people turned out for a rally in Paris and at least 4,500 people marched in the Mediterranean port of Marseille, according to police.
"With or without UN, no to war in Iraq," chanted the Paris protestors.
In the US, thousands marched to the White House in Washington and other protests were set for Los Angeles and other cities in California.
As they swayed to music under blue skies and bright sunshine, Washington protestors chanted, "no blood for oil" and waved banners that proclaimed: "Hands off Iraq," "Peace is patriotic" and "Who would Jesus bomb?"
In Canada, 250,000 protesters took to the streets in Montreal, while thousands of others demonstrated in Toronto and Ottawa.
In Greece, some 15,000 people summoned by anti-globalization groups marched in Athens behind a giant replica of Picasso's celebrated anti-war painting, Guernica.
In Cyprus, some 2,000 Greek Cypriots banged drums, blew whistles and shouted anti-US slogans outside the US embassy in Nicosia.
In Turkey, some 5,000 people gathered at the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, where the US has been unloading military equipment ahead of a possible invasion of Iraq.
In Russia, some 1,000 people rallied in front of the US embassy in Moscow.
"I love this man, he is like Stalin," Nina Gulchyeva, a protestor, said of Saddam, whose portrait was emblazoned on a banner that she carried. "Someone should bomb Washington."
In London, approximately 2,000 people marched against war and some 20 Kurds gathered in front of the French embassy to protest that country's stance in the Iraq crisis.
In South America, 10,000 people joined protests in Argentina, 50,000 in Brazil and 500 in Chile.
Some 10,000 people demonstrated in rallies in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm.
In Germany, 100,000 demonstrators linked hands to form a 35km-long human chain through Berlin Saturday in protest against possible war on Iraq
In Belgium, 28,000 people marched through the capital of Brussels, according to police estimates.
On continental Europe's westernmost point, the Cabo da Roca cliff that rises above the Atlantic ocean northwest of Lisbon, some 5,000 people planned to gather for a peace vigil as the leaders of Britain, Spain and the US prepared to meet in the Azores.
Hundreds of thousands rallied in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. "America is the mother of terrorism," they shouted.
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