Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A London demonstration against the war in Iraq drew at least 10,000 people today as similar protests were planned in European capitals including Paris, Rome, Madrid and Oslo, and in Washington.

Andrew Burgin of the Stop the War Coalition, which backed the London rally with the Muslim Association of Britain, said there were 100,000 demonstrators in Hyde Park, in the city center. A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, put the number at 10,000.

``It is now time, once again, for the British people to step forward into the streets and insist that this time we will not be ignored,'' said Lindsey German, one of the organizers, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.

The U.K. protest, on the eve of the ruling Labour Party's annual conference, coincided with an anti-war demonstration in Washington today that organizers said will draw 100,000 people. The U.S. Park Police canceled all leave to deal with the rally, which comes the same weekend as the twice-yearly meetings in the U.S. capital of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Public support for the war has dwindled in the U.S. and the U.K., allies in the March 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Sixty-seven percent of those questioned in a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll conducted Sept. 16-18 said they disapproved of President George W. Bush's handling of the war, the most since the invasion.

In the U.K., two-third of respondents in a July 15-17 poll by ICM Ltd. for the Guardian newspaper linked the terrorist attacks on London of July 7 to Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to join Bush in the invasion.

Demonstrators in London brandished posters saying ``Bush World No. 1 Terrorist,'' Sky News reported. Protests were also planned in Copenhagen and Helsinki, Agence France-Presse reported.

Sue Smith of Tamworth, northwest England, whose son Phillip Hewett died in July when a roadside bomb exploded under his army vehicle near Basra, delivered a letter to Blair urging him to pull troops out of Iraq, the BBC reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jackie Andrews at kay@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 24, 2005 12:37 EDT