Thousands in Europe Protest Bombing
  By SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM, Associated Press Writer

  LONDON (AP) - An estimated 20,000 people marched through central London in
  the largest of several demonstrations in Europe on Saturday against the
  military strikes in Afghanistan.

  Some sang, others chanted, a few attempted to burn American and British
  flags, but police said the march, on an unseasonably warm day, was peaceful.

  The organizers, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, welcomed the large
  turnout, saying they hope to a create a broad coalition with protesters
  abroad.

  ``It is just remarkable of the high level of interest,'' said Nigel
  Chamberlain, spokesman of CND. ``We might be in a minority in public
  opinion, but we are here to show that there are thousands of people against
  the war.''

  London police estimated that 20,000 people joined the march from Hyde Park,
  Piccadilly and Trafalagar Square. Police intervened to stop attempts to burn
  an American flag and a paper or cardboard Union Jack flag of Britain.

  In Germany, more than 25,000 peace protesters took to the streets. The
  largest turnout was in the capital, Berlin, where some 15,000 protesters
  held a protest in the central Gendarmenmarkt square, police said. The rally
  was preceded by several peace marches held throughout the city under the
  motto ``No War - Stand Up for Peace.''

  Demonstrators from peace, church and student groups, as well as some unions,
  called for an immediate halt to the attacks, warning of an escalation of
  violence in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. They also called on world
  leaders to encourage development in the region as a way to ``root out
  terrorism at its base.''

  The U.S.-led coalition began its military campaign against Afghanistan on
  Oct. 7 after the ruling Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden and his
  lieutenants to the United States. Bin Laden, a Saudi exile, is the prime
  suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington in which about
  6,000 people were killed.

  In the southern German city of Stuttgart, about 10,000 peace protesters
  called on the United States to leave Afghanistan and for Germans to stand
  together against the war.

  ``This war threatens to spread a fire of hatred,'' Sybille Stamm, local head
  of the giant ver.di service union told a crowd gathered for a rally in
  downtown Stuttgart. Stamm criticized the government for increasing spending
  on state security, at the cost of social programs.

  Before the rally, police said about 80 people took part in a protest vigil
  near the barracks where the U.S. military's headquarters for Europe are
  stationed. No incidents were reported.

  In Sweden, several thousand people marched peacefully in the country's three
  biggest cities Saturday to protest the bombings.

  ``It's absolutely unacceptable that the world's richest country bombs the
  world's poorest people,'' said Ann-Cathrin Jarl of the Women's International
  League for Peace and Freedom.

  In Italy, youths demonstrated peacefully in Rome, Naples and several smaller
  cities. The biggest turnout was in Naples, with about 2,000 people. Many of
  the protesters were preparing to head on Sunday to Umbria, in central Italy,
  for a peace march organizers predict will draw tens of thousands of people.

  In Glasgow, Scotland, around 1,500 people gathered in George Square for an
  anti-war protest.

  Thousands of people across Australia rallied Saturday for peace. The
  demonstrations in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide had been planned for
  more than a year to protest the militarization of space, but became forums
  to oppose the military offensive in Afghanistan.

  ``No one supports the Sept. 11 attacks but no one supports what's happening
  now in Afghanistan, either. The way to remember the dead of Sept. 11 is not
  by building another mound of innocent people's bodies,'' said Denis Doherty,
  a rally organizer.