Hundreds of thousands of people around the world rallied against the US presence in Iraq on the first anniversary of the war in protests that retained the anger, if not the size, of demonstrations held before the invasion began.

　　As protesters hit the streets, insurgents continued to battle US troops in Iraq, killing two American soldiers yesterday.

　　Protesters filled more than a dozen police-lined blocks in New York on Saturday, calling on US President George W. Bush to bring home troops serving in Iraq. Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated the crowd at about 30,000, but organizers said later that number had grown to more than 100,000. Police in riot gear walked calmly past barricades marking off the demonstration area.

　　"It is time to bring our children home and declare this war was unnecessary," said the Reverend Herbert Daughtry.

　　New York police reported four arrests on disorderly conduct charges. There were scattered arrests in other US cities as well.

　　A rally in Rome was by far the largest on the day, drawing at least 250,000 people, according to police estimates. Organizers claimed as many as 2 million people - many of them draped in rainbow peace flags - had joined in the festive march.

　　Even though most Italians opposed the war, the conservative government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi strongly supported the US-led invasion and has deployed 2,600 peacekeeping troops.

　　Madrid's protest seemed equally to denounce the Iraq war as well as the March 11 rail bombings, which killed 202 people and injured more than 1,800.

　　One banner read: "End the occupation. Bring the troops home" - a reference to the 1,300 Spanish troops in Iraq, who Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to withdraw unless the United Nations takes charge in Iraq.

　　About 150,000 demonstrated in Barcelona, but no crowd estimate was available for the Madrid protest.

　　Tens of thousands marched through central London, some of them waving placards that called Bush the "World's No. 1 Terrorist." Police estimated that some 25,000 people took part; organizers put the figure at 100,000.

　　Two demonstrators wearing climbing gear scaled the Big Ben clock tower at the Houses of Parliament and held up a small banner that read "Time for Truth" before coming down several hours later.

　　Demonstrators in Ukraine and Poland also demanded the withdrawal of their troops.

　　"The occupation of Iraq is stupid - it's meddling in another nation's affairs," said Polish demonstrator Edyta Raczka, 17, one of about 700 protesters who marched through Warsaw's old town to the presidential palace and the US Embassy.

　　Poland contributed combat troops to the war and now commands a 9,500-strong peacekeeping force in south-central Iraq, including about 2,400 troops of its own.

　　Protests were also held in Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia and other Asian and European countries.

　　In western Iraq, insurgents fired a rocket at US troops, killing two, while in Baghdad two mortars hit the US-led coalition headquarters yesterday and a third exploded in a nearby residential area, killing an Iraqi civilian, US officials said a day after the first anniversary of the start of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.

　　The rocket attack on Saturday was near the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, where anti-US rebels are active, a US military official said on condition of anonymity. The wounded consisted of five soldiers and a sailor. The two killed were both soldiers, she said. No other details were available.

　　The US official said it was not clear if anybody was killed or wounded in the mortar attack on the Baghdad coalition compound. Smoke was seen coming from the area, which is in the center of the city. Staff at the headquarters were instructed to move to bunkers following the blasts.

　　(The Associated Press)