LONDON, England (AP) — Demanding an immediate end to the war in Iraq, tens of thousands of people marched in cities around the world or demonstrated outside US military bases yesterday, but the demonstrations were far smaller than recent protests.

“Bush, murderer,” chanted protesters in Paris, while protesters in Helsinki, Finland roared, “George Bush, CIA, how many kids did you kill today?”

Organisers said there had not been much time to plan protests, but there was little sign of people responding to calls to pour into the streets or responding spontaneously to the start of war. Despite large turnouts in some cities yesterday, the mostly peaceful marches were dwarfed by anti-war protests February 15, which saw some of the largest demonstrations in history.

Jaakko Kartano, a student, at a march in Helsinki said “People ask what’s the use of this, but our task is to instill faith in people and try and prevent anything like it (the war) happening again.”

There was a sense of frustration among marchers in London. The turnout was well down from last month’s mass rally, which drew at least 750,000 people, with police estimating turnout yesterday at less than 100,000, while organisers claimed 150,000.

Many protesters said they did not expect British Prime Minister Tony Blair or US President George W Bush to listen to them.

“I don’t think there is a snowball’s chance in hell this march will stop the war but it’s going to send out a message to them, maybe,” said Ernie Vandermass, a student who marched in London.

Protests would grow as the war continued, organisers said, but some marchers said people were discouraged and support may be ebbing.

The biggest protests yesterday were in Europe, with dozens of demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people in Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other countries.

A few radicals scuffled with police on the fringes of some demonstrations, but there were no reports of significant clashes or arrests. Dozens of protesters hurled rocks and paint at police who used tear gas and dogs to stop them reaching the US embassy in Oslo, Norway.

Protesters gathered outside US military bases in Europe. About 5,000 people protested at an air force base in Fairford, England from where US B-52 bombers have been flying sorties, laying flowers at the main gate for “the death of democracy”.

In Asia, the largest demonstrations were in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic nation, but only a few thousand people took part, some burning US flags and photos of Bush. “Fight back, Americans are killers,” protesters chanted outside the US Embassy in Jakarta.

Some 400 people protested in Tokyo, police said, compared to about 30,000 who turned out for a demonstration earlier this month.

Protests continued for a second day in the Middle East after violent anti-American clashes the day before, mainly involving students in small demonstrations.

Riot police used tear gas against 200 high school students who threw stones near the US Embassy in Bahrain. Hundreds of riot police watched as about 5,000 students gathered at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

“Oh Arab army! Where are you?” the Cairo students chanted, calling on Arab nations to send troops to support Iraq.

In some nations, protests singled out Britain and Australia, the only nations fighting with US forces. Italian police used tear gas to break up protesters who tossed paint at the British consulate in Venice and 4,000 people marched to the Australian embassy in New Zealand.

Denouncing the Australian prime minister, they chanted, “John Howard, You can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”