Thousands of demonstrators across Canada and the United States held rallies on Saturday to protest the fourth anniversary next week of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. 

The Canadian marches also took aim at the country's mission in Afghanistan.

Demonstrators move down Ste-Catherine Street in Montreal to protest the fourth anniversary next week of the start of the war in Iraq.
(Ian Barrett/Canadian Press)

Raymond Legault, a Montreal protest organizer, said he believes the anti-war movement in Canada will eventually succeed in convincing the federal government to pull Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.

"It's a long-term struggle unfortunately, and this is just one more step in that struggle," he said.

Canada has more than 2,000 troops in Afghanistan, with the majority stationed in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. Forty-five Canadian soldiers, plus one diplomat, have died in the last six years.

Legault said activists will step up pressure until the Canadian government withdraws the troops.

Other protests Saturday were held in Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Winnipeg, and planned for Edmonton and Vancouver.

'We're just hoping that Harper will know how to listen to the Canadian people.'—Montreal protester Dorothy Hainault

"This is not rebuilding Afghanistan," said Legault. "This is not about protecting our freedoms and our way of life. This is about aggressing another country, controlling its agenda."

Peace message goes to kids

Montreal protester Dorothy Hainault said she has attended several demonstrations since Canadian troops arrived in Afghanistan in 2001. Its troops are part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, a coalition of about 30,000 troops from about 37 countries.

Hainault said she thinks the Canadian public does not support Canada's involvement in Afghanistan, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper should follow the will of the people.

"We're just hoping that Harper will know how to listen to the Canadian people," she said.

Neir Nourisodey, another protester, brought his four-year-old son Maded to the rally. Both held a white peace flag.

"I have to teach my son just peace," he said.

Take to U.S. Consulate

In Toronto, about 200 people gathered outside the U.S. Consulate for a peaceful demonstration. In Halifax, about 100 marched through city streets, then stopped at a park for a peace rally.

Former U.S. marine Dean Walcott, 25, who served in Iraq, spoke to the Halifax crowd. Walcott, a U.S. war resister, is trying to claim refugee status in Canada.

"I believe individual nations have the right to establish themselves as they see fit, and I believe they can do that without interference from the West," Walcott said.

"There's got to be a better way for nations to be free rather than us putting a gun in their face and demanding it of them."

Halifax protest organizer Stu Neatby said the rally was held to denounce the leaders of both the U.S. and Canadian governments for military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively.

"We are here to condemn the leaders who send these people into failed, ridiculous and ill-thought missions to fight their own kind of colonial wars," he said.

The U.S. invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. Since then, more than 3,200 U.S. troops and more than 59,000 Iraqis have been killed.

Protesters aim at Iraq war

Saturday's U.S. rallies were held in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and other cities.

In Washington, more than 10,000 people denounced U.S. foreign policy while attending a peaceful rally outside the Pentagon.

Thousands crossed the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial and gathered near the Pentagon to express their opposition to the war in advance of its fourth anniversary Tuesday. Vietnam war veterans held their own gathering while police on horseback kept the two sides apart.

"We're here in the shadow of the war machine," anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan told the crowd. "It's like being in the shadow of the death star. They take their death and destruction, and they export it around the world. We need to shut it down."

At the same time the anti-war protests were taking place, crowds of people gathered in several U.S. cities to demonstrate their support for the Iraq mission and the troops helping conduct it. The largest such gatherings took place in Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; San Diego; and Hartford, Conn.

According to the United Nations, the war has displaced about 1.9 million Iraqis within the country, while an estimated two million Iraqis are seeking shelters in neighbouring countries, including Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

With files from the Canadian Press