While one procession was taken out from Charminar in the Old City, another
started from Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram in the New City. The two converged
at the Exhibition Grounds.

Dr P M Bhargava, scientist and former director of the Centre for Cellular
and Molecular Biology, led the rally from Charminar under the banner of
Forum Against War on Iraq.

The demonstration ended with the adoption of a resolution denouncing the US
aggression and urging the Indian government to unequivocally condemn the
war.

The participants pledged not to use American soft drinks, food products and
other goods and services.

Dr Bhargava asked the protestors to shun the products manufactured by Indian
companies with American stake. "We will not open accounts in American banks
and will not avail the services of American insurance companies," he said.

The forum represents political parties, trade unions, farmers'
organisations, social activists, women, youth and non-governmental outfits.

The protestors shouted slogans like 'Down with American imperialism', 'Bush
Number one terrorist of the world', 'Bush and Blair, enemies of humanity',
'No blood for oil' and 'We are with our Iraqi brothers'.

The agitators burnt effigies of President George W Bush and Prime Minister
Tony Blair.

Folk singers, artistes and writers from Left organisations, including
revolutionary poet and balladeer Gaddar and revolutionary writer Varavara
Rao, joined the rally. Beating drums, they danced to the tunes of
revolutionary songs denouncing US imperialism.

Communist Party of India state secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, CPI-Marxist state
secretary B V Raghavulu, leaders of seven other Left parties, and
Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen legislators Asaduddin Owaisi and Mumtaz Ahmed
Khan, were among the prominent participants.

The declaration termed the war as "an unbridled, deliberate and premeditated
act of aggression that lays bare the desire of American government to
exercise total control over the destinies of all the people of the world and
use them ruthlessly for meeting its own selfish and convoluted objectives in
a way that would put the feudal regime, the colonial rule and the
totalitarian government of the past, to shame".

"We believe that no one [including the people of US] would gain by this war
while everyone and every nation will lose out in one way or the other. We
recognise that if only the money that is being spent by US and its allies on
the war against Iraq were to be spent on humanitarian causes, the world
could become a safer and better place to live in," it said.

It also urged the United Nations "to work out a time-bound programme to
repair the damages caused by the war with the expenses being payable by US
and its allies in this unfair, immoral and illegal war, which neither has
the sanction of the UN nor the vast majority of the people of the world."

Some youth mistook two Canadians for Americans and bashed them up. Leftist
leaders came to the rescue of Jonathan and his brother, activists of World
Peace Initiative, who had come to attend the antiwar rally. The organisers
apologised to the two and got them seated on the dais.

The Canadians said the incident reflected the worldwide anger against the US
for its illegal invasion of Iraq. Two Germans, a French and a Spaniard also
participated in the rally. Julia and George, German social activists, said,
"We oppose this war and hence we came to join this massive demonstration."