Local media is reporting that hundreds of thousands of antiwar protesters poured into streets around the globe on Saturday’s one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq to demand the withdrawal of US-led troops.

From Sydney to Tokyo, Madrid, London, New York and San Francisco, protesters condemned US Iraqi policy and the Bush Administration‘s doctrine of pre-emption. Journalists estimated that at least a million people streamed through Rome, in the biggest single protest. In London, two activists evaded security to climb the historic Big Ben clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, unfurling a banner reading “Time for Truth,” as approximately 25,000 demonstrators streamed through central London, many carrying “Wanted” posters bearing the faces of Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his main war ally. In Germany, several thousand people took part in demonstrations in about 70 cities and towns across the country. Some 3,000 people turned out in Sydney, chanting “end the occupation, troops out” and carrying an effigy of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch war supporter. About 10,000 protesters marched in Athens, Greece, and an estimated 120,000 took part in peace protests across Japan.

Read Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel’s report from Moscow’s antiwar march; Samuel Lowenberg’s dispatch from Madrid’s rally and Maria Margaronis’s Letter from London.You can also check the United for Peace website for updates on continuing antiwar activism in the US, including this Wednesday’s “National Iraq Call-in Day.”