Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Washington on Saturday for a march around the White House as part of a global rally to protest a possible US war against Iraq.

About 10,000 protesters have assembled around the Washington Monument not far from the White House by early afternoon. Demonstrators were still arriving by buses provided by organizers.

They joined in hundreds of thousands of protesters in other parts of the world for what could be the last chance to voice mass opposition and dissuade the Bush administration from launching a war on Iraq.

"I feel hopeless because I can't do anything to avoid the war," said Amnelies Visser, who is at her 60s. She held a sign with a hand-drawn dove near the monument, where some people were giving speeches to the applaud of the demonstrators.

The demonstration brought together people from various political or ideological backgrounds, including conservatives, liberals, religious people and atheists. Organizers said buses would bring marchers from 100 cities.

Hundreds of thousands of people also took to the streets Saturday in major cities in countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand as well as Japan and South Korea.

The worldwide demonstration, the second since Feb. 15 when millions of protesters rallied in cities from Europe to the Middle East to Asia, came one day before US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar are to meet in the Azores Islands for urgent consultation.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said the three leaders will explore "all of the possibilities," indicating that the summit will include talk about waging war without UN approval.

"They don't have the rights to invade Iraq. It's against the law," Visser told Xinhua, referring to the Bush administration and its allies. She said she took part in the demonstration in hope that the White House would hear the anti-war voices of hers and millions of others before ordering an invasion of Iraq.

Officials in Washington said they were preparing for a large turnout. US Park Police were bringing in additional officers from New York and San Francisco.

Activists also planned peace vigils worldwide on Sunday evening.

Anti-war Protesters Stage Rallies Around Greece

Thousands of protesters against war on Iraq marched to the US embassy in central Athens on Saturday, calling for a halt to planned hostilities.

Protesters chanted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading "Stop the war" and "No to the barbarism of the war."

A rally was also staged outside the country's national defence ministry, asking the government to keep Greece out of any war.

On the southern Aegean island of Crete, demonstrators blocked access to an American base on the island, vowing to encamp there for night.

In the northern port city of Salonica, thousands of protesters took to the streets in a march to the US consulate to call for an end to war plans against Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2003)