Despite snow and freezing temperatures, thousands of anti-war activists marched in several cities across Canada on Sunday.

For the second day in a row, people held peaceful rallies denouncing U.S. President George W. Bush's threat to use military force to disarm Iraq. They danced, sang songs, chanted slogans, and gave speeches.

The largest crowd was in Vancouver, where about 3,000 people gathered in the rain, applauding outspoken critics of U.S. foreign policy.




Washington must take any complaints against foreign governments to the United Nations, they said. Many accused the White House of targeting Saddam Hussein in order to try to take control of valuable oil reserves.

About 1,000 marched through a shower of ice pellets in Montreal, and about 500 showed up in a blur of white snow on Parliament Hill. Rallies were held in several other cities, including Halifax, Winnipeg and Edmonton.

"I don't think war solves everything, and my heart breaks for the Iraqi children and their parents," said one woman in Nova Scotia.




"The role of the U.S. should mostly be to try to avert war, not cause war," said a young teenage boy as he marched through Winnipeg.

"There are hundreds of thousands of children that are going to die, and people that are going to die, and it's morally wrong," said a woman in Edmonton.

Protesters urged the federal government to avoid joining any military campaign the U.S. may launch against Iraq.

"We in British Columbia are here today to send a message to our government, to send a message to Jean Chrétien, that Canada must not be part of an immoral, illegal war on Iraq," said NDP MP Svend Robinson.

"I do not believe that you can simply just drop bombs from airplanes and make the problem go away," said a man in Ottawa.

"It's aggressive, it's horrible, it's bullying, and I think that the bullying has to stop," said a woman in Vancouver.

Similar rallies were held in Toronto and several other cities on Saturday. Organizers plan to stage more demonstrations as long as the possibility of a military strike against Iraq looms.