By Xinhua
Canberra : A peace rally in central Sydney Sunday urged the Australian government to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Stop the War Coalition rally was held in Belmore Park ahead of the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.
Alex Bainbridge, one of the leaders who addressed the rally, said one million people had been killed since the war began and demanded Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who promised to pull out the 500 Australian soldiers from Afghanistan, keep his words.
“This war is a crime and we need to end it,” the Australian Associated Press quoted him as telling the rally.
“It is leading to deaths of innocent people, it is about taking political control of Afghanistan for the benefit of oil companies, and it is against the wishes of the Afghan people,” he said.
Peace campaigner Donna Mulhearn, who travelled to Iraq to join a human shield in the days before the war started, said Australia needed to apologise to the Iraqi people.