A demonstrator joins a protest Saturday in Rawalpindi, about 15 kilometres southwest of Islamabad. More than a thousand peace activists formed a human chain to protest against the possible U.S. invasion of Iraq. Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP

Washington — A rally outside the Capitol, followed by a march to a naval yard, anchored the demonstrations and brought spirited masses together to declare America the "Rogue Nation," as one sign put it.

"We stand here today, a new generation of anti-war activists," Peta Lindsay from International Answer, the main organizers, exhorted the national rally. "This is just beginning. We will stop this war."

"We don't want this war and we don't want a government that wants this war," said Brenda Stokely, a New York City labour activist.

A sign demanded, "Disarm Bush"; the crowd chanted: "No war on Iraq."

Activists invoked the nonviolent legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on the long weekend that marks the civil rights leader's birthday, and booed U.S. President George W. Bush, who was at Camp David, Md.

"Mr. Bush hung Dr. King's picture up in the White House last year but he need to hang up Dr. King's words," said the Reverend Al Sharpton, a Democratic presidential candidate.

As with any big Washington rally, the main cause made room for other causes. "Free Palestine" was one of them. Racism and genocide were others.

"The underlying motives for this government's actions have always been greed and racism," said Moonanum James of United American Indians of New England.

"In the spirit of Dr. King, in the spirit of Crazy Horse," he said, "no blood for oil."

A major demonstration also was planned in San Francisco, and activists elsewhere. For many, the imperative was to come to Washington.

Demonstrators also staged peace rallies worldwide.

Five thousand marched through downtown Tokyo, carrying toy guns filled with flowers and wearing face masks that parodied Mr. Bush. The crowd, made up largely of students and labourers, was orderly.

A few dozen protesters in Hong Kong shouted, "War, no," and in Pakistan, the familiar refrain "No blood for oil" rang out — a refrain that accuses America of wanting to attack Iraq only to control its oil wealth. Several hundred people tried to march on the U.S. consulate in Lahore, but Pakistani authorities held the crowd back. Six were allowed to deliver an appeal to American officials to spare Iraqis from war.

More than 400 New Zealanders demonstrated in Christchurch. In Moscow, a few hundred people agitated outside the U.S. Embassy in a protest organized by a branch of the Communist Party. People turned their backs to the building, and signs called the United States a "Global Cannibal."

In the Syrian capital, Damascus, thousands marched with a message that was not all about peace. Many cried, "Our beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," in celebration of Iraq's missile thrusts against Israel during the 1991 Gulf War and in hope Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would strike again. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians rallied under the same slogan.