hirty thousand demonstrators marched in central Washington, DC today against the invasion and occupation of Iraq by US and British forces, according to the Washington DC police authorities. The demonstration called by the International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, coincided with coordinated anti-war actions in the capital cities of more than 60 countries around the world.

D.C. police forces carried out a series of unprovoked attacks against the demonstrators, using clubs and pepper spray as they assaulted people who were chanting "Stop the US War Machine, from Iraq to Korea to the Philippines."

"Tens of thousands of people in Iraq have been killed or maimed in the onslaught carried out by the US and British forces since March 19. The US corporate media has portrayed the military actions as the liberation of Iraq. We know that the real motivation the White House and the Pentagon was to conquer Iraq and to put into place a US military dictatorship followed by a proxy or puppet regime in Baghdad," stated Larry Holmes of the International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition.

The demonstration today in Washington DC was noteworthy because tens of thousands of demonstrators in the United States came together to condemn the invasion of Iraq as a war for empire.

"Iraq possesses 10 percent of the world's known oil supplies. The US is moving quickly to plunder the land and especially the natural resources of Iraq for the benefit of US based oil and banking corporate elites," Holmes continued.

The demonstrators also asserted that the Bush administration was engaged in a strategy of endless war that would further target Syria, Iran, southern Lebanon, Palestine, North Korea, the Philippines, Colombia, Zimbabwe, and others countries that sought to achieve national liberation and independence or sovereign control over their own resources.

Although the US corporate-dominated media has proclaimed that the US-British invasion of Iraq and accompanying slaughter of Iraqis is a victory, people all over the world took to the streets today proving the continuation the massive peace and social-justice movement that swiftly emerged in recent months as a direct response to the Bush administration's war drive.

Demonstrations against the war took place in the Following countries:

ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA (on Palm Sunday, April 13), AUSTRIA, BANGLADESH, BELGIUM, BRAZIL, BURMA (MYANMAR), CANADA, CHILE, CROTIA, CYPRUS, DENMARK, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EGYPT, ECUADOR, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, GUATEMALA, Haifa, ICELAND, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRAN, IRELAND, ITALY, JAPAN, JORDAN, KYRGYZSTAN MACEDONIA, MEXICO, MAROCCO, MONGOLIA, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NICARAGUA, NORWAY, PAKISTAN, PARAGUAY, PHILIPPINES, POLAND, PORTUGAL, PUERTO RICO, RUSSIA, SCOTLAND, SLOVENIA, SOUTH KOREA, SPAIN, SUDAN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, SYRIA, TAIWAN, TURKEY, UK, U.S., URUGUAY (on Friday, April 11), VENEZUELA, YEMEN.

Links to articles about demo:

Washington Post

Yahoo News -- Washington Demo

Yahoo News -- Demos Round the World

Yahoo Picture Gallery -- 4/12 DC and World Wide Anti-War Protests

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