From New York to Hollywood via Chicago and Colorado, anti-war protestors took to the streets in the broadest display so far of American public dissent to a military strike on Iraq.
Crowds thronged streets around United Nations headquarters in New York, where organisers said as many as 250,000 turned out, although police declined to give an estimate.
The four-hour rally that began at midday was part of a global series of protests being held in more than 350 cities around the world, including Bangkok, Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Paris, Rome, San Francisco and Toronto.
Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Hollywood stars Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover and Rosie Perez were among the speakers at the protest — held just a stone's throw away from the landmark UN building.
"You will never have true security that comes from the barrel of a gun," said Tutu, adding that UN weapons inspectors in Iraq should be given more time to complete their work.
Sarandon accused the administration of President George W Bush of "hijacking" the national sense of horror and insecurity engendered by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
"Dropping bombs on Iraq is not the way to go about securing the safety of our country," she said.
In Chicago, some 2,000 turned out, braving sub-zero temperatures to show their solidarity with peace advocates around the globe.
"This is the first protest against the war I've attended I'm ashamed to say," said Joe Dempsey, a 39-year-old actor, "but I just felt it was time to just do something."
He said he had been discouraged by what he called the "war rhetoric" in the US media. "But I'm starting to sense a turning of the tide ... that people are not just swallowing this bitter pill without question. It seems to me a majority of Americans are against this war, but they just feel that their voices are not going to be heard," he said.
In Hollywood, protestors led by actor Martin Sheen, Actress Angelica Huston and producer Rob Reiner marched up the celebrated Walk of Fame to Sunset Boulevard carrying posters of President George W Bush embracing close ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the slogan, "Make Love, Not War."
And up to 3,000 protestors met with police teargas in Colorado Springs in the foothills of the Rocky Mountain town near the US Air Force Academy and Petersen Air Force Base, headquarters of the US Joint Military Homeland Defense Command.
Back in New York, protesters included relatives of the victims of the September 11 attacks, who marched under the umbrella banner "9/11 Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow."
Around 60 speakers and performers addressed the crowd from a stage set up at the nearest permitted point to the UN building.
The organisers had originally intended to march by the doors of the UN building itself, but were barred from doing so by the New York authorities and a subsequent court order.
The demonstration was the largest of a series of protests being held in a dozen US cities and organised by "United for Peace and Justice" — a loose coalition of around 200 pacifist groups.
"A shame on the city of New York and a shame on the courts," one of the main coalition organisers, Leslie Cagan, told the cheering crowds.
"But, you know, it doesn't matter that we can't march, because we will not be silenced," Cagan said.
Nearly 300 buses and four special trains helped ferry demonstrators into New York City from all over the northeastern United States.
Because of the marching ban, the rally was held several hundred meters from the UN, with the massive overflow spilling northwards up a police-barricaded First Avenue in midtown Manhattan for more than 20 blocks.
Many of the protesters carried banners with anti-Bush and anti-war messages, like: "Stop the Madness of King George" and "Win without War."
Several held placards reading "Thank You France and Germany" — referring to those countries' opposition to a military conflict.
"We truly believe that war is the last choice and we should give the chance to the UN inspectors to do their job," said Cindy Zipf, 46, from New Jersey.
There was a heavy police presence, but no reports of any incidents of violence. The area around the United Nations compound is one of the most tightly secured in in New York City — especially given the current threat climate.
US authorities raised the nationwide terrorist alert to its second-highest level last week. Although the anti-war movement has grown in strength in recent months, polls still regularly show strong overall support in the United States for military action against Iraq.
According to a CBS News/New York Times opinion poll released Friday, three-quarters of Americans see war as inevitable, and two-thirds approve of it as an option.
However, 59 percent said they believed Bush should give UN weapons inspectors in Iraq more time, while 63 percent argued that Washington should not act without the support of its allies.
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