15 February 2003 anti-war protests

On 15 February 2003, a coordinated day of protests was held across the world in which people in more than 600 cities expressed opposition to the imminent Iraq War. It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 and continued as the invasion, war, and occupation took place. The day was described by social movement researchers as "the largest protest event in human history". According to BBC News, between six and ten million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of 15 and 16 February. The largest protests took place in Europe. The one in Rome involved around three million people, and is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally in history. Madrid hosted the second largest rally with more than 1.5 million people protesting the invasion of Iraq. In Beijing, three smaller protests were held the following day, attended by foreigners and domestic students. In 2002, the United States government began to argue for the necessity of invading Iraq. This formally began with a speech by US President George W. Bush to the United Nations General Assembly on 12 September 2002 which argued that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein was violating United Nations (UN) resolutions, primarily on weapons of mass destruction, and that this necessitated action. The proposed war was controversial with many people questioning the motives of the US government and its rationale. One poll which covered 41 countries claimed that less than 10% would support an invasion of Iraq without UN sanction and that half would not support an invasion under any circumstances. Anti-war groups worldwide organised public protests. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 anti‐war protests, the demonstrations on 15 February 2003 being the largest and most prolific. The 15 February international protests were unprecedented not only in terms of the size of the demonstrations but also in terms of the international coordination involved.