Hundreds protest against war on Iraq at Prague's Palach Square

Hundreds of anti-war activists gathered on Prague's Palach Square on Sunday to protest against the military campaign in Iraq. Organised by the International Peace Movement and the Initiative Against War organisation, the event resembled a happening rather than a demonstration. Despite the cold weather and occasional snow, participants created banners, ate, drank, and symbolically drowned a puppet representing Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, who has been publicly supporting the war in Iraq, by letting it float on the Vltava river. Since December, some twenty demonstrations against the war in Iraq have been organised in towns and cities around the country.