Beginning on March 19, 2011, and continuing through the 2011 military intervention in Libya, anti-war protests against military intervention in Libya were held in many cities worldwide.
March 2011
Brazil According to an article by Fabíola Ortiz on March 25 on the online magazine Upside Down World, two small protests were organized in Brazil against the decision for military intervention in Libya.Fabíola Ortiz, Brazil: Libya Attack Sours Obama-Rousseff Meeting, Upside Down World, March 25, 2011. On March 18, during the visit of Barack Obama to Brazil, a protest of about 200 people from social movements, the Workers' Party, the Brazilian Communist Party and the Democratic Labour Party was held in Rio de Janeiro. The demonstration was peaceful until it reached the U.S. consulate, when two molotov cocktails were thrown (injuring the building's security guard). The Military Police reacted by firing rubber bullets into the gathering, hurting a Rádio CBN reporter. Fourteen protestors were arrested.
Chile In response to the US military intervention in Libya a demonstration was held in Chile's capital, Santiago, on March 20 protesting the visit by Barack Obama. Left-wing political parties, professors, students, human rights activists and other Chilean people participated in the demonstration.Chileans March against War, Obama's Visit, Insidecostarica, Monday 21 March 2011.Chileans March against War, Obama's Visit, Prensa Latina.
Germany On March 20, between 70 and 80 people (members of communist or anarchist German groups and immigrants) demonstrated in Hamburg against the attack on Libya under the banner "Yes to the revolt, No to the intervention". On March 21 nearly 200 people met in the city center of Duisburg, convoked by several leftist groups in a protest against the war in Libya and against nuclear power. Fifty demonstrators met in Tübingen on March 23, asking for an end to air raids in Libya.
Greece On March 20, about 5000 supporters of the Communist Party of Greece (ΚΚΕ)—mainly high school and university studentsProtests Spike in Greece as Government Weighs Support of Attack on Libya , AOL News, March 21, 2011.—protested outside the parliament building in central Athens against the government's support for the NATO-led intervention in Libya. They carried anti-government banners and placards that read "The imperialists out of Libya" and "US-EU-NATO kill people", shouted anti-intervention slogans and torched the flag of Europe.Protest grčkih komunista zbog vojne intervencije u Libiji, Politika, March 20, 2011.Students protest Greece's support for military operations in Libya, SETimes.com, March 22, 2011.
On March 20 a similar protest was held on Crete, in which Communists marched to the Souda Bay naval base which provided command and logistical support to the NATO-led intervention. The protesters demanded closure of the NATO base.
India On March 27 hundreds of Muslim demonstrators, led by the Aba-Saleh Society, held a protest march in Lucknow. The rally began at Dargah Hazrat Abbas and ended at Roza-e-Kazmain. Speaker Maulana Ameer Haider addressed the crowd, denouncing the United States-led military action in Libya and Saudi Arabia's involvement in Bahrain. The protesters chanted slogans against the US-led military forces and branded them "killer of innocents".Protest March in Lucknow against attack on Libya, Bahrain, TwoCircles.net, March 27, 2011.
Italy On March 26, Libyans living in Rome held a demonstration at the Republic Plaza in central Rome to protest the military intervention. The demonstrators held placards, displayed the flag of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, shouted slogans and displayed pictures of Muammar Gaddafi.Libyans in Rome protest against military intervention in Libya Photo 1, Xinhua, March 27, 2011.Libyans in Rome protest against military intervention in Libya, People's Daily Online, March 27, 2011.
Mali On March 25, thousands of Malians demonstrated in Bamako (the capital of Mali) to protest against the NATO-led military operation in Libya. The crowd marched first to the French embassy and then to the embassy of the United States. Protesters shouted "Down with Sarkozy! Down with Obama!"Malians protest military intervention in Libya, msnbc.com, Associated Press, March 25, 2011.Mali: Thousands Stand for Qaddafi, The New York Times, Associated Press, March 25, 2011. The demonstration, organized by Islamic groups in the nation, brought traffic to a halt in the Bamako city center.Pro-Gaddafi rally draws thousands in Mali capital, Thomson Reuters, March 25, 2011.
Nicaragua From March 19 to March 24, three demonstrations were organized in Nicaragua to protest the military intervention. In the March 24 protest (the third since the beginning of the military operation in Libya) hundreds of supporters of president Daniel Ortega marched in Nicaragua's capital, Managua. The rally, organized by Ortega's followers and called the "Nicaraguan Solidarity Committee with Libya", started from the embassy of Libya and ended outside the headquarters of the United Nations Development Program. Leaders of the demonstration called the military intervention "imperialist military aggression backed by the UN". Protesters shouted "No war", "Yes to peace", displayed banners with pictures of Gaddafi, chanted slogans in support of Gadhafi and attacked the United States.Sandinistas march in Nicaragua's capital against Libya offensive , The Tico Times, March 24, 2011.
Philippines On March 20 an anti-war protest against NATO intervention in Libya was held in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, in which protesters burned a replica of the flag of the United States.Anti-war protesters in Manila, Almasry Alyoum, March 20, 2011. On March 21, the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN) reported that peace organizations in the Philippines had joined Islamic protesters to condemn the UN-backed air strikes in Libya. Jolly Lais, spokesperson for the Muslim group Bangsamoro National Solidarity Movement (BANGSA), said "This brazen military aggression betrays the double standard by which the United Nations uses". The left-wing political party Bayan Muna called the airstrikes "a brutal act of armed intervention against a sovereign nation".Joe Torres, D'Jay Lazaro and Julian Labores, Muslim groups slate Libya strikes , Union of Catholic Asian News, March 21, 2011.
On March 25, Philippine Muslims protested the military action after Friday prayers at a mosque in Manila. The anti-war protesters displayed pro-Libya placards reading, "Appeal to U.S. Save Humanity Stop Bombing to Libya".UAE commits 12 planes to Libya despite Bahrain, The Express Tribune, Agence France-Presse, March 25, 2011.R S N Singh, Why has Libya been attacked?, Sify, March 25, 2011.
Russia Interfax reported that Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard of United Russia), a pro-Kremlin youth group and the youth wing of United Russia, planned to picket embassies of the United States, Canada, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, and France on March 23.Pro-Kremlin youth activists to protest NATO airstrikes on Libya , Interfax, March 23, 2011. Activists of Molodaya Gvardiya took part in a flower-laying ceremony in front of the Libyan embassy in Moscow to commemorate the victims of the NATO attack in Libya.Coverage of the flower-laying ceremony , Townhall.com, Reuters, March 23, 2011.
Serbia
On March 20 an anti-intervention protest was held in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, in which protesters carried pictures of Muammar Gaddafi and Josip Broz Tito. On March 26, a second anti-intervention protests was held in the center of Belgrade at the Republic Square by Libyan students studying in Serbia and a Libyan-Serbian friendship organization. Protesters carried the flag of Libya and pictures of Gaddafi.SKUP PODRŠKE NARODU LIBIJE , Kurir, Tanjug, March 26, 2011.
On March 27, a third anti-intervention protest was held in Belgrade. About 200 people, including Libyan students and expatriates, demonstrated at the Manjež park. The protesters chanted slogans ("Support from Serbia", "A true friend of Serbia and Libya", "Libya and Serbia", "NATO killers"), displayed photos of Gaddafi and carried placards opposing NATO.Blic: Beograđani i Libijci ponovili protest podrške, BLIC, March 27, 2011.
Spain On March 20, 400 people protested in Barcelona against the NATO intervention affirming "support to the Libyan people, nor NATO or Gaddafi" and "no more blood for oil". One of the organizers of the protest, Pere Ortega, believed the military intervention will make Gaddafi's posture stronger. The protesters carried banners reading, "Nor tyrannies or occupations. Solidarity with the people in struggle".Spaniards protest against military intervention in Libya, People's Daily Online. March 21, 2011.
On March 24, several dozens of people protested in Murcia under the banner "Yesterday Iraq, today Libya. No to humanitarian imperialism", exhorting an end to the allied intervention and Gaddafi's repression. The protesters shouted, "No more blood for oil" and "Stop the war". There was another anti-war demonstration in Gijón, convoked by the "Solidarity Committee with the Arab Cause".
On March 26 thousands of people rallied in Madrid, the capital of Spain. The march was organized by human rights groups and other social organizations under the banner, "For the emancipation of the Arab nations: neither dictators nor imperialists".Thousands in Madrid protest military intervention in Libya, Xinhua, March 27, 2011. On the same day, an anti-war demonstration calling on governments to stop the air attack on Libya was held in front of the Rota Naval Base.A week into Libya intervention, an aimless war? , The Korea Herald, March 27, 2011.
Sri Lanka Trade unions in Sri Lanka across the political spectrum voiced their opposition to the military intervention in Libya. On March 21, Sri Lankan trade union leader and the governor of the Western Province Alavi Mowlana said at a media briefing in Colombo that Sri Lankan trade unions will organize protests in the country's largest city demanding that the United States and Western nations stop the military intervention. He said anti-imperialist organizations in Sri Lanka will organize an initial protest campaign against the United States–led military intervention at the Colombo Grand Mosque on March 25.A.A.M.Nizam, Working Class in Sri Lanka condemns Western Nations on indiscriminate bombing in Libya, Asian Tribune, March 22, 2011.