Spanish movie director Pedro Almodovar joined tens of thousands of people in a march through the Spanish capital to protest the continuing war in Iraq and to demand the closure of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Chanting "No to War" and "The People of Madrid with the People of Iraq," the protesters marched along a near 4km route from central Cibeles Plaza to Atocha square.
Organizers of Saturday's event estimated the crowd numbered 400,000, but several eyewitnesses put the attendance at less than a quarter of that figure.
City police did not provide a crowd estimate.
Other rallies were held around Spain, with some 2,000 gathering in Barcelona and 500 taking part in Seville, news reports said.
Political party representatives, union leaders and people from the acting and literary world took part in the Madrid protest.
Almodovar told the private Europa Press news agency he was on the demonstration to protest "the barbarities they have been committing in Iraq for the past four years."
"We're here for peace and for the closure of Guantanamo because it is a disgrace for civilization," he said.
The protests were called by some 50 organizations, among them Spain's two main unions and the country's main political parties, but not the right-wing leading opposition Popular Party.
"I'm against all wars but especially this one. This is terrorism on a world scale," said Gaudencio Garcia, 74, who traveled 45km from the small farming town of Azuqueca de Henares for the Madrid protest.
Spain was the scene of major anti-war protests in the run-up to and during the first months of the war, with demonstrations in Barcelona and Madrid attracting between 1 million and 2 million people each.
Former Popular Party prime minister Jose Maria Aznar was one of the strongest supporters of the US' decision to invade Iraq.
The party was voted out of office in elections in March 2004, days after 191 people were killed in bomb attacks claimed by Islamic radicals to avenge the presence of the country's troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After winning the election, Socialist party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero immediately set about fulfilling an electoral pledge to bring Spanish troops in Iraq home, claiming it was an illegal war.
Meawhile, in Istanbul, Turkey, more than 3,000 people protested the war in Iraq in two separate demonstrations.
More than 2,000 anti-war activists marched on the Asian side of the city that is bisected by the Bosporus strait, carrying signs that read: "Bush go home" and "We are all Iraqis."
Close to 1,000 other demonstrators, most of them members of far-left parties or groups, held a separate protest in a main square on the European side of Istanbul.
In Athens, Greece, about 1,000 people marched peacefully from central Syntagma Square to the US embassy to call for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS