Press Trust of India Posted online: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 at 1818 hours IST
Moscow, April 9: In the largest ever Russian protest against the Iraq war so far, nearly 30,000 supporters of President Vladimir Putin's party and members of loyal trade unions converged in front of the US Embassy in Moscow to denounce the US-led war in Iraq.
Supporters of "United Russia" party carrying posters which read "shame on America! you have bombarded the ideals of democracy", "Iraq is not (Monica) Lewinsky, you cannot put it on knees", trampled and burned US flags.
In a resolution adopted during the rally, protesters demanded an immediate end to the war and expressed their support for the people of Iraq.
The police detained several youths for throwing eggs and rotten tomatoes on the US embassy building, however, they were soon released, local media reported.
The authorities had closed several central avenues in Moscow for traffic and deployed large contingents of police and paramilitary forces as the organisers had expected over 100 thousand people to turn out for the demonstration.
