MUMBAI: Over a lakh Muslims participated in a rally at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai to protest the three-day visit of U.S. President George Bush. The rally also drew the support of the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party, with leaders like Ahilya Rangnekar and Abu Asim Azmi sharing the dais with imams from across the country.

Several organisations, including the Communist Party of India, the Communist Gadar Party, the National Railway Workers' Union, the Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, the All India Ulema Council and the Mumbai Aman Committee, participated in the mammoth rally.

Organisers of the rally said all sects — Shia, Sunni, Khoja, and Bohra — participated.

"Won't tolerate atrocities"

The speakers touched on a gamut of issues — from Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen and M. F. Husain's paintings to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Afghanistan and Iraq crisis. Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi said atrocities perpetrated against Islam would not be tolerated.

The crowd cheered the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in Delhi, Ahmed Bukhari, when he said: "Bush should know that America is not a super power. Only the God sitting above is. The Americans can't get away with killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and Iraq."

The crowd was hard to control.After Mr. Bukhari's speech, the barricade erected in front of the stage collapsed under the surge of people. Traffic around Azad Maidan came to a standstill and the entrance to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was blocked.

The organisers said people had come from distant suburbs like Mumbra, Thane and Jogeshwari to attend the rally. Shops and establishments in predominantly Muslim areas like Bhendi Bazaar and Mohammed Ali Road were closed by early afternoon.

Apolitical rally

Farid Shaikh from the Mumbai Aman Committee said: "This rally is not political. We just wanted all Muslims to assemble for a cause. We are against the Danish cartoonist who hurt the feelings of Muslims. Bush is not good for us. Look at how he attacked Iraq for no reason. We are protesting against all these issues."

However, a civilian said: "I have nothing against America and I am here to pray to Allah. We want peace and I want to pray." Organisers, however, shooed him away and insisted that media persons interact only with authorities and not with the "general public."

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