LONDON, 21 March 2004 — Tens of thousands of peace activists marched in cities around the world yesterday to demand an end to the occupation of Iraq on the first anniversary of the US-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein, but there was none of the massive turnout seen at prewar rallies.

The biggest crowds in Europe were reported in Italy, Spain and Britain, whose governments backed US President George W. Bush’s call to war to oust Saddam Hussein despite massive public opposition.

In Italy, where a majority of people favor pulling out the 3,000-strong Italian contingent from Iraq at the end of June, tens of thousands marched through central Rome to denounce the war and the staunchly pro-US foreign policy of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Organizers — left-wing political parties, unions and non-governmental organizations — claimed that close to one million people took part. But police provided no estimate.

In central London, 25,000 anti-war activists, according to police, marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, shouting slogans such as “Anti-Bush, Anti-Blair, Anti-war everywhere.”

They were referring to the leaders of the US-led coalition in Iraq, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair who are accused of exaggerating unsubstantiated claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to justify the war.

“Bliar” — a play on the name of the British prime minister — “no more lies” read some of the banners while demonstrators improvised slogans to rap music through loudspeakers.

The march was organized by Stop the War Coalition, which helped bring more than one million people into the streets on London in February 2003 to denounce the Iraq war, as well as by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain.

Police, meanwhile, arrested two Greenpeace activists who scaled London’s landmark Big Ben clock tower yesterday and unfurled a banner proclaiming “Time for the Truth.”

Police said the pair were arrested on “suspicion of causing criminal damage” and taken to central London police station for questioning.

In Spain, thousands of people, with the horrors of the Madrid train bombings fresh in their minds, were expected to join anti-war marches. The attacks by suspected extremists killed 202 people and led to the downfall of Spain’s pro-US government in elections three days later.

In Greece, up to 15,000 people, mostly young people waving banners railing against the occupation of Iraq, rallied in Athens to protest the war, according to organizers. Police put the figure at 6,000. A year ago, anti-war protests drew around 200,000 people.

Thousands of protesters also took to the streets across Turkey to denounce the occupation and a planned visit by US President George W. Bush to the country for June’s NATO summit.

In Germany, thousands of anti-war protesters marched in several cities, but the turnout was markedly lower than last year. In Berlin, where more than 70,000 had denounced the war a year ago, only 500 protesters turned out, according to police. Smaller demonstrations were held in Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg and Heidelberg.

In France, an early opponent of the Iraq war like Germany, anti-war rallies were planned in several cities, including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse.

In the United States, demonstrations were planned in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, with organizers hoping to attract large groups of protesters, perhaps as many as the hundreds of thousands who turned out before the war.

In Australia, thousands of anti-war activists also staged rallies to mark the anniversary. Speakers at the rallies called for Australian troops to be sent home from Iraq and attacked Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government’s strong ties with the United States.

About 2,000 people marched in Sydney, bearing an effigy of Howard with a large Pinocchio nose above a banner labeling him a war criminal.

The rallies did not attract the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who marched in Australia’s major cities in the lead up to the war.

In Tokyo, organizers claimed 30,000 people had turned out to call for peace in Iraq and the immediate withdrawal of US and Japanese troops.

Demonstrations, mostly by leftists and Muslims, were held throughout South Asia yesterday, but they paled in comparison with the thousands who took to the streets in the run-up to the war last year.