SYDNEY, March 17 (UPI) -- About 300 Australians marched down Sydney's George Street Saturday to protest the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq.
A similar number turned out in Melbourne at an anti-war rally on the steps of the State Library. Both crowds waved banners reading "Troops out now" and "Free David Hicks" -- a reference to the Australian held in Guantanamo Bay after being captured in Afghanistan while fighting for the Taliban.
In Sydney, Greens Party Sen. Kerry Nettle urged protesters to vote against Australian Prime Minister John Howard in the national elections later this year, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said.
Nettle said "Americans as well as Australians want their troops to start being withdrawn. It seems like the only people that haven't got this message, or that refuse to act on it, are John Howard and George Bush."
