NEW YORK — A huge crowd gathered outside the criminal court in Manhattan yesterday, in protest of the acquittal of two police officers charged with raping a drunken women in her apartment.

Huffington Post reports:

The protest was organized by a coalition of women’s rights groups, including Permanent Wave and Feministing. The purpose of the demonstration, as stated on the Facebook page for the event, was to urge the New York Police Department to implement comprehensive sexual assault training for new officers, along with other preventative measures that will ensure similar incidents do not happen in the future.

Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata were called to help a drunken woman get out of a taxi in 2008. The woman testified that she awoke to being raped by Moreno. Officer Mata was said to have stood guard during the incident. Surveillance cameras showed the men entering and exiting the house several times over the course of a few hours.

Moreno was also recorded assuring the woman that she “didn’t have to worry about getting any diseases” because he “used a condom,” but Moreno later claimed that he said that to get her to leave him alone.

Though the officers were acquitted of the rape charges, they were fired from the NYPD the same day.

The two will be sentenced by the State Supreme Court on June 28. They each face up to two years behind bars due to official misconduct convictions. Had they been found guilty of rape, the pair could have been in jail for up to 25 years.

Brazenly provocative, the bare-breasted young women of Femen are becoming an eye-catching — if unsolicited — fixture on Ukraine’s political scene.

Established in 2008 by a group of Kiev university students, Femen says its main aims are to improve the role of women in Ukraine’s male-dominated, post-Soviet society.

“We want to show that our women have a demeaning role in our society. Their place is seen as in the kitchen or in bed,” said Alexandra Shevchenko, a 22-year-old economics student who regularly plays a leading role in topless protests.

Sex tourists and visiting foreign businessmen who feed Ukraine’s sex industry are the group’s main targets.

It has also campaigned against sexual harassment of students in universities and railed against international beauty contests such as the Miss Universe competition.

Even Mykola Azarov — the country’s dour, grey-haired prime minister — found himself an unlikely target of Femen when he drew fire by naming an all-male government.

But this is no classic women’s movement.

Last week two semi-clad Femen members disrupted an Iranian exhibition with a protest in support of an Iranian woman held in jail for adultery and complicity of murder.

The Ukrainian authorities, who once laughed off Femen’s activities as cheeky but harmless antics, may now be losing patience after the anti-Putin demonstration which touched a raw nerve in sensitive ties with a powerful neighbor.

“The police are becoming more aggressive now. But at least that shows we are being taken seriously,” Hutsol told Reuters in an interview in a downtown Kiev cafe.

Read entire article at Reuters.com

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WASHINGTON (AP) — About 35 immigrant advocates, including a nun and a U.S. congressman, were arrested in front of the White House fence Saturday after sitting down and defying orders from police to move.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois was among those taken away with his hands tied behind his back in plastic restraints.

Many of those arrested Saturday held letters that spelled out the message: “Obama, Stop Deporting our Families.”

Gregory Cendana, the 23-year-old president of the United States Student Association, said he was getting arrested for two close friends and his parents, who came to the U.S. on a visa from the Philippines.

Cendana, who said this was his first arrest, took two deep breaths before answering a question about whether he was scared.

“I feel the love and excitement from everybody here today and I’m trying to draw strength from that,” Cendana said.

Others wore tee-shirts or held signs saying “We are All Arizona,” a nod to the state that recently adopted a tough and controversial new law aimed at curbing illegal immigration.

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LOS ANGELES – A firestorm over racially and ethnically charged incidents at several University of California campuses spread Tuesday as UC San Diego announced a KKK-style hood was found on campus and students in Los Angeles and Irvine demonstrated against intolerance.

“What kind of campus promotes an environment that allows people to think it’s acceptable to target people for their ethnicity, gender or sexuality?” said Corey Matthews, one of about 200 mostly minority UCLA students who held a lunchtime rally. “It’s something about the tone of the environment that allows this.”

At UC Irvine, about 250 people gathered for a “student solidarity speakout” to condemn the recent spate of racist incidents at UC San Diego that targeted black students and another incident last month at UC Davis, which targeted a Jewish student with a swastika carved on her door, said Marya Bangee, an event organizer.

The protests came on the same day UC San Diego announced the discovery of a white pillowcase fashioned into a KKK-style hood — the third racist incident around the campus in as many weeks — and a day after UC Santa Cruz officials found an image of a noose scribbled on the inside of a bathroom door.

Officials found the hood, which bore a hand-drawn circle and cross, on a statue of children’s book author Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, outside the main campus library late Monday. A rose had been inserted between the statue’s fingers.

Detectives were analyzing the pillowcase for fingerprints and DNA evidence, a university statement said.

UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox vowed to punish the culprits to the fullest extent of the law. “We will not tolerate these despicable actions,” she said in the statement.

The hood came on the heels two other UC San Diego incidents: a February off-campus, student-organized “Compton Cookout” party that mocked Black History Month with ghetto stereotypes; and a noose found hanging from a library bookshelf last week.

UC San Diego campus police said they had completed their investigation into the noose incident and turned their results over to the city attorney on Tuesday for possible hate crime charges.

One of the students responsible for the noose apologized to the university community in an anonymous letter published Monday in the campus newspaper. She said the noose was formed while she and friends were playing around with a piece of rope and had no meaning as a lynching symbol.

The student said she is not black, but is a minority.

The incident also is under investigation by law enforcement agencies, campus spokeswoman Judy Piercey said.

Although UCLA students said no racial incidents had occurred recently on their campus, in 2007, a fraternity held a “Tijuana Sunrise” party that mocked Mexican-Americans with stereotyped images, they said.

The incidents are disturbing and most likely the work of “outliers” using offensive and outrageous behavior to gain notoriety, said Brian Levin, director of California State University’s Center for Study of Hate and Extremism in San Bernardino.

He said surveys show young people are less prejudiced than ever, but “these things touch a nerve, and these folks know it.”

UCLA demonstrators called on administrators to institute a required ethnic studies course that would teach students about other cultures.

“It would be a very strong and powerful statement for diversity,” said Kent Wong, a speaker at the rally and director of UCLA’s Center for Labor Research and Education.

At UC San Diego, officials were already moving to create a more tolerant environment after meeting with black student leaders, Piercey said.

Initiatives include recruiting more minority faculty, instituting a mentoring program, creating an African American Resource Center, and ensuring funding for the diversity office, Piercey said.

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UPDATE: UC San Diego Noose Hanger Apologizes, Students Protest

White Fraternity Mocks Black History Month With “Compton Cookout”

From The Huffington Post

Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group that travels around the country holding anti-gay rallies, protested outside the school attended by President Obama’s children on Monday morning.

The “church,” run by Fred Phelps and composed largely of his extensive family, is known for staging its events for maximum publicity and controversy. In the past, members have demonstrated outside troops’ funerals. Recently they have been targeting Jewish temples. Now they’re aiming their vitriol at Washington-area schools — including Sidwell Friends, where Malia and Sasha Obama are students.

A message on Westboro’s website refers to the Obama children as “satanic spawn” of a “murderous bastard.” Along with various schools, the church is also protesting outside the White House, the World War II memorial, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission field office.

Click Here For More

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About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incidents in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn’t need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. “In Arizona, I still have some freedoms,” he said.

Phoenix police Detective J. Oliver, who was monitoring the man at the downtown protest, said police also wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him.

“Just by his presence and people seeing the rifle and people knowing the president was in town, it sparked a lot of emotions,” Oliver said. “We were keeping peace on both ends.”

Last week, during Obama’s health care town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a sign reading “It is time to water the tree of liberty” stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.

“It’s a political statement,” he told The Boston Globe. “If you don’t use your rights, then you lose your rights.”

Police asked the man to move away from school property, but he was not arrested.

Phoenix was Obama’s last stop on a four-day tour of western states, including Montana and Colorado.

Authorities in Montana said Monday they received no reports of anyone carrying firearms during Obama’s health care town hall near Bozeman on Friday. About 1,000 people both for and against Obama converged at a protest area near the Gallatin Field Airport hangar where the event took place. One person accused of disorderly conduct was detained and released, according to the Gallatin Airport Authority.

Heather Benjamin of Denver’s Mesa County sheriff’s department, the lead agency during Obama’s visit there, said no one was arrested.

Arizona is an “open-carry” state, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it’s visible. A permit is required if the weapon is carried concealed.

Paul Helmke, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said people should not be allowed to bring guns to events where Obama is.

“To me, this is craziness,” he said. “When you bring a loaded gun, particularly a loaded assault rifle, to any political event, but particularly to one where the president is appearing, you’re just making the situation dangerous for everyone.”

He said people who bring guns to presidential events are distracting the Secret Service and law enforcement from protecting the president. “The more guns we see at more events like this, there’s more potential for something tragic happening,” he said.

A call to a Secret Service spokesman was not immediately returned Monday.

The National Rifle Association also did not return a call for comment.

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From the New York Times:

A group of Harlem protesters is calling for a boycott of the American Apparel outlet on West 125th Street in Harlem, asserting that the store failed to abide by a request made of Harlem merchants to close for three hours last Tuesday, in observance of Malcolm X’s May 19 birthday.

Malcolm X, the civil rights activist who was assassinated in Harlem in 1965, at age 39, would have turned 84 this month. In his memory, a group called the Malcolm X New Millennium Committee held a march and requested that businesses along 125th Street, Central Harlem’s main thoroughfare, close from 1 to 4 p.m.

“It’s really like a moment of silence,” said Omowale Clay, a member of the committee. The group makes a point of alerts businesses ahead of time, he said. “We hand-delivered the letter.”

The American Apparel store opened within the last year, and a spokeswoman for the clothing chain, Emily Nerad, said that the management of the store was not aware of the request. “We want to apologize for any offense taken by marchers who thought American Apparel was not in support of their rally for Malcolm X,” she wrote in an e-mail message. “Unfortunately, we did not receive advance notice about closing. Once the marchers reached our store in Harlem, the manager immediately closed the store.”

Click here to read more.

UPDATE:

Troy Anthony Davis, 23, is set to be executed in the state of Georgia despite his strong claim of innocence. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Savannah, Georgia police officer Mark Allen MacPhail on questionable eyewitness testimony. Seven out of nine witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony, no murder weapon was found, and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime. The NAACP is calling on supporters to send letters and emails to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue asking him to commute Davis’ sentence. The courts are refusing to consider the new evidence despite the overwhelming amount of facts that indicate that Mr. Davis, an African American man, is innocent.

Click here for more.

Thousands Will Protest Execution Of Troy Davis, May 19, 2009

From BET.com

Thousands of people in 43 U.S. states and on five continents around the world are expected to join hands today, symbolically, to protest the death sentence of Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis.  According to Amnesty International, the “Global Day of Action” (find a rally near you) will bring attention – and hopefully pressure – on the state of Georgia to reconsider its decision.

“With Troy’s case you have three execution dates that have come and gone,” Jared Feuer told BET.com, pointing out that Davis has supporters all around the world, including former President Jimmy Carter, the Pope and former Republican Congressman Bob Barr.

“That’s unusual. There have been three stays. The public attention and pressure on this case is making a difference. There have been more than half a million petitions and letters from all around the world.”

Feuer says Amnesty International got involved with Davis’ case about six years ago because Davis was convicted without the presence of any physical evidence. He said no murder weapon was ever found and the case against him was built solely on witness testimony and several of those contained inconsistencies.  In fact, seven of the nine witnesses, he adds, have recanted their statements.

“This case brings front and center all the problems with our criminal justice system,” says Feuer. “We’ve been astonished by how focused the courts are on finality and not on getting it right.”

Read the Whole Story

From BBC.com:

James Kimondo told reporters outside the Nairobi High Court his wife had observed the boycott and caused him “anxiety and sleepless nights”.

“I have been suffering mental anguish, stress, backaches, lack of concentration,” he said.

It is unclear how many women joined the strike, which ended on Wednesday.

Click here for more.

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Five members of Congress and two Darfur activists had themselves arrested Monday outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C., to draw attention to the continuing humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Uniformed Secret Service officers put plastic handcuffs on Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), along with Save Darfur Coalition president Jerry Fowler and Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast after the group stepped behind yellow police tape in front of the embassy.

Read the Whole Story

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Pioneering Hip-Hop mogul and activist Russell Simmons led a protest today (March 25) in Manhattan to end the controversial Rockefeller Drug Laws.

The rally began this afternoon in front of Governor David Paterson’s Manhattan office, located at 633 3rd Ave. Enacted in 1973, Rockefeller Drug Laws decree stiff mandatory sentences of 15-25 years to life in prison for selling 56 grams or more of narcotics, including marijuana.

The bill has received criticism for its perceived focus on low-level and minority offenders, mostly incarcerated for possessing small amounts of crack cocaine.

Although moderate reforms were made in 2004, Simmons is pushing for the New York Senate and Governor Paterson to support a new Assembly bill that will restore judicial discretion in sentencing.

Read the Whole AllHipHop Story

In this exclusive NewsOne video series, “1968: Through Our Eyes,” Gold Medalist DR. TOMMIE SMITH speaks on the remarkable Olympiad when he raised the Black Power salute and empowered a nation.

If you like this video, check out the first episode of Through Our Eyes featuring the remarkable African-American congresswoman MAXINE WATERS here and join the online celebration!

BP Member Rosko_24_7 says, “The recent issue with the NY Post and their cartoon was just the tip of the iceberg. Racism is rampant in the US and all over the world. We need to stand up against it.”

To add your name to the Member Petition Against Racism (NY Post Chimp/Stimulus Cartoon) click here. For our editorial on the NY Post Cartoon situation click here. For the latest updates on this controversy click here. To add your comments and on the situation click here.

David Peart
I support this petition because the time has long come to say enough. It has never been acceptable to engage in this sort of blatant disrespect, but it does appear that there is an element out there who believes that they deserve a free pass on such behavior. They are wrong, and maybe the now unfortunate necessity of this papers demise will educate the last stubborn vestiges of such bigoted ignorance that their lack of self control is not a birthright the nation are obligated to endure absent rebuke.

Yvonne Jackson
The placement of the cartoon is irrelevant. The simple fact that it is a chimp and it references the “stimulus bill” identifies the chimp as Obama. Together with the long history racist of equating black people with animals makes the cartoon utterly inexcusable as merely “free speech.” It is hate speech plain and simple, so full of hate in fact that its author fails to realize that it doesn’t even rise to cleverness.

Shani Porter
I support this petition to fullest because the cartoon made me very sick to my stomach. Also it made me very disturbed by people having the audacity of publishing this racist drawing. If it was any other president, this picture would’ve never been created.

Gary Shaw
I support this petition. I suggest also that we boycott Fox 5 and the NY Post and push for their financial sponsors to yank their support from them.

Malcolm Mccormack
I support this petition.Because the New york Post has being doing this for a Long time & geting away with it… Time to shut them Down.

Lillie May Jackson
I support this petition It’s the same song, different verse, Why can’t we ( Americans) be like children, accepting of everyone!

Richard Packard
I support this petition. I have continued to spread the message about FOX news and the way they have historically treated black people. This is good work. Truly, Rick Packard, Chicago

Carmen Pullen
I support this petition. the idea that something like this still occurs in 2009 is absolutley ridiculous. This needs to stop.

Chicago Rounder
I DO NOT support this petition. I am not offended by the cartoon and believe that the time and energy of Black men and women in this country is better spent on real atrocities such as addressing violence and drugs in our neighborhoods, educating our children and ourselves, and promoting high moral values in our community. A so-called “racist cartoon” is the least of our worries.

W. Parham
I completely support this petition. And would like nothing better then to see The New York Post, The Boston Herald as well as the Fox Network boycotted from now on because this is not the first racist or insensitive comments either of those Newspapers have made and it won’t be the last unless something is done.

Raine Stefens
I support this petition. This is not acceptable for a brighter future. Let these hurtful hateful thoughts go. Thing about racists is that if they got their way and all other races disappered … they would start killing each other off

C. Henderson
I support this petition and the view that the cartoon may have been created with different intent then received BUT I do not accept the cartoon. The cartoon by itself is acceptable. The words by itself is acceptable. Placing them together is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Blackman Whoaint Bitter
This is coming from a black man… Get over it! Nothing is worse than black people who have no clue of what those before them went through, getting on their high “dats racist” horse every time they sense a HINT of racism. If you ever expect things to get better in this country, you need to start being part of the solution, and not part of the problem!

CHERYLL MARTIN
I support this petition. I am totally outraged with this cartoon. There is no way the post can clean this up, it pure unadulterated racism.

Terrance Perry
I support this petition. After all the comradery that was displayed at the signing in of our new president. It shows that ignorance is still ramped in our country. It goes to show that we still have a long way to go, when people can still get away with showing racism in a public venue. Im very dissappointed in but not angry. I still expect this behavior from some people.

Maurice Russell
I support this petition.I can’t believe that anyone would think this is funny. Shame on anyone who does. Blacks, Whites, Asia,Hispanics, and everyone else voted Obama in..Not just one race. People Grow UP!!!!!

shawn white
I support this petition.And further decry the notion that an apology is enough.Fire those involved or shut them down enough is enough.

RON HARRELL
I support this petition. SO LET ME GET THIS RIGHT. SOMEONE ALLOWED THIS 2 REACH THE PAPER’S…THE EDITORS ALLOWED IT THREW..AND THE PRESIDENT OF WHATEVER JOURNALIST COMPANY LET IT HAPPEN…TELL’S YOU ALOT ABOUT THE WAY THEY RUN THERE BUISNESS!!!SEEM’S 2 ME LIKE THEIR THE MONKEY’S AND THEIR BUILDING IS THE CIRCUS..LOVE A TICKET TO THAT SHOW!!..LOL

Destiny N
I support this petition. That is a nasty message to the young people and to everyone out there that sees this. There was no need for this cartoon. If the creator wanted a significance to the actual chimp that got shot, he should not have added that specific quote. Adding the quote is what made it racist, and i am white.

James Modeste
I support this petition in its scope. My outrage extends to the mainstream media that considers this type of freedom of speech acceptable.

Sterling Williams
I support this petition. In light of the fact that President Obama just signed the stimulus bill I find it to be of very poor taste and not funny at all with the inferences that can be drawn from the comments in the caption.

Devon Dassaw
I support this petition because the time is now for a major change on race across this entire country. Accept the diversity or get out. Remember your ancestors are mixed with black, white, latin roots, and more.

Amirah Wint
I support this petition and feel very outraged and hurt by the ignorance we as a Black people have to face. There is a fine line between “freedom of speech” and hatred. The NY Post definitely crossed it.

David Ortez
I support this petition. This is a racially charged cartoon aimed directly at president Barrack Obama and African-Americans everywhere. There is no way to justify this the image drawn by the racist N.Y Post and we will not stand for it. A public apology is in order by all parties involved in this disgusting show of bigotry. There is a thin line between freedom of speech and prejudice…and has been crossed.

Ivan Gainous
I support this petition. That cartoon is apalling and insensitive. It shows the underlying thoughts of some people’s prejudice and hatred.

Alysia Orengo
I support this petition. I can’t believe this type of behavior and to think a newspaper actually allowed this to be printed. Are you kidding me?

avonia taylor
I support this petition. Not only is the said cartoon a disgrace to President Obama the said cartoon is a disgrace towards the entire country. If a News paper company can disrespect our president so the world can see, other people outside the U.S can feel the exact same way, but possibly go further with their hate. America is suppose to be the Land of the free and the home of the brave , but the only thing i see within the post and others since the election is that they’re free to say whatever and brave to do it without any care. With that being said I as a young female feel we should do the same, but in a classy and a well manner as when Our President ran for Office. There I am more than grateful I was able to take part in signing this petition. Yes we can, Yes we did, and Yes we’ll rise!!!!!

Dozens of students have barricaded themselves inside of New York University’s student union cafeteria to demand increased transparency of the school’s finances, divestment from Israel due to the Gaza war and support for Palestinian students

The protest began about 10 p.m. Wednesday when students from various city universities gathered inside the cafeteria of the Helen & Martin Kimmel Center for University Life.

Members of the coalition called Take Back NYU! pushed tables and chairs against the doors. A supporter said about 60 students were involved.

In a list of demands posted on a Web site, the students called for the university to release information on staff salaries and financial aid.

NYU spokesman John Beckman says the group’s calls for the release of salary information is “not a reasonable request.”

He said the university gives students “countless opportunities for dialogue and even protest.”

Here’s a Video of the Protest

Add your voice to the protest by going to NorthStarNews.com and leave a comment. We’ll forward all comments to the National Action Network.

Protests over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer turned violent Wednesday night with windows broken, fires set and train stations closed.

A few hundred protesters took the streets of downtown Oakland to condemn the shooting and call for criminal charges against 27-year-old officer Johannes Mehserle. Oakland police reported at least 14 arrests.

Mehserle resigned from the transit agency shortly before he was supposed to be interviewed by investigators Wednesday.

Mehserle is accused of shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward, who was lying face-down on the station platform when he was shot and killed early New Year’s Day. Mehserle was one of several officers responding to reports about groups of men fighting on a train.

Protesters gathered in the afternoon at the Fruitvale BART station where the shooting occurred. It was peaceful at first but began to turn nasty after a splinter group left that site and marched downtown.

Protesters set fire to a trash container and tried to overturn a police car, smashing the front window. Police attempted to disperse the crowd and smaller groups of protesters marched to different areas.

Some protesters threw bottles, a window of a fast-food restaurant and other downtown stores were smashed, at least three cars were set on fire and many other automobiles were damaged. Police in riot gear threw tear gas to try to break up the demonstration.

“The crowd started to become more agitated, more hostile, started throwing stuff at the police,” Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said. “We gave a dispersal order four to five times over a 20-minute period, then we had our officers go in and start making arrests.”

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums went to the protest scene Wednesday night to urge for calm. He and several council members then led a group toward City Hall and further addressed them.

“Even with our anger and our pain, let’s still address each other with a degree of civility and calmness and not make this tragedy an excuse to engage in violence,” Dellums said. “I don’t want anybody hurt, I don’t want anybody killed.”

Grant’s family has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against BART and want prosecutors to file criminal charges against Mehserle.

Watch CNN cover The Riot

Watch News Coverage of the Riot

Watch More Footage

Watch Footage of the Original Shooting

Thousands protesting Israel’s ground offensive on Gaza converged Sunday in Beirut and Istanbul as the leaders of the only two Mideast Arab nations to sign peace treaties with Israel demanded an end to the attack.

In Yemen, security officials said anti-Israel protesters attacked several Jewish homes in the northern province of Omran, smashing windows and pelting them with rocks. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said at least one Jewish resident was injured among the tiny minority community.

Lebanese police used water hoses to try to push about 250 demonstrators away from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon’s capital. When that failed, they fired tear gas, Lebanese security officials said. A second Beirut protest — a sit-in outside the U.N. building — drew thousands of supporters of Hamas and Lebanon’s Islamic Group.

In Turkey, more than 5,000 people held an anti-Israel rally in Istanbul, waving Palestinian flags and burning effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President George W. Bush. Also in Istanbul, club-wielding police broke up a small demonstration by protesters who hurled eggs at the Israeli Consulate, the private Dogan news agency reported. There were no reports of arrests or injuries.

In Morocco, tens of thousands gathered in the capital Rabat for a peaceful march to protest the Gaza offensive. Police estimated the turnout at 50,000, according to the official MAP news agency. Organizers said the number was bigger, but did not give a precise figure.

Israel’s weeklong aerial bombardment of Gaza and the start of the ground offensive Saturday against Hamas have drawn condemnation across the Muslim and Arab world and news coverage of the invasion has dominated Arab satellite television stations.

Thousands in cities from Tehran to Damascus have also taken to the streets to protest the attacks, which have killed about 500 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,600, according to Gaza officials.

In some cases, the protests of the past week were as directed against Arab governments as much as Israel, with many criticizing their perceived inaction or lack of sufficient support of the Palestinians.

On Sunday, the leaders of Egypt and Jordan — the only two Mideast Arab countries to sign a peace agreement with Israel and maintain diplomatic ties — condemned the ground offensive and called for an end to Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.

Several hundred Jordanians shouting “death to Israel” protested against the Gaza offensive Sunday in two separate demonstrations in central Amman, the Jordanian capital. The protests were peaceful and police made no arrests.

In parliament, the Jordanian government came under criticism from Islamic opposition lawmakers demanding that it suspend relations with Israel.

“All options are available to assess the relationship with every side, especially Israel,” Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi told parliament during a heated debate.

“We will reconsider relations according to our higher national interests,” he said. “We will not remain silent about the situation and the serious deterioration in Gaza and neither about the threat which risks the security of the whole area and its stability.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who runs his own Palestinian administration from the West Bank, also denounced Israel’s ground offensive as “brutal aggression” in his harshest words yet in describing Israel’s assault on his Hamas rivals.

Israel says the aim of the operation is to stop the Palestinian militant Hamas group from firing rockets at southern Israeli towns. Hamas is opposed to any peace settlement with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

“This battle will end a (peace) settlement forever,” Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, told the protesters at the sit-in. “This battle will show who are the men.”

Five civilians and one policeman were lightly injured in the clash outside the U.S. Embassy earlier in the day, according to the Lebanese officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, discussed the situation in Gaza with visiting chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, the group’s Al-Manar TV said.

Al-Manar did not give further details but said Nasrallah and Jalili, who arrived here Saturday from neighboring Syria, discussed “ways of ending this aggression.”

Hezbollah, which is a strong ally of Hamas, possesses a formidable arsenal of rockets and missiles that bloodied Israel during a monthlong war in 2006. Hezbollah has not threatened to join Hamas in its current battle with Israel, but Nasrallah said last week that his men are on alert in case Israel attacks Lebanon.

Chanting and waving flags, thousands of Muqtada al-Sadr‘s followers filled Firdous Square to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact that would allow American troops to stay for three more years. The Bush effigy was placed on the same pedestal where U.S. Marines toppled the ousted dictator’s statue in one of the iconic images of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

After a mass prayer, demonstrators pelted the effigy with plastic water bottles and sandals. One man hit it in the face with his sandal. The effigy fell head first into the crowd and protesters jumped on it before setting it ablaze.

Before it fell, the effigy held a sign that said: “The security agreement … shame and humiliation.”

Iraq’s parliament is expected to vote next week on the plan to keep U.S. forces in Iraq for another three years. But the noisy opposition by the Sadrists indicates that even if it is approved, the deal could remain divisive in a country struggling for reconciliation.

Opponents view the security deal as a surrender to U.S. interests despite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, saying the pact would eventually lead to full sovereignty.

Al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran, was not at the protest, though he wrote a sermon read by his representative, Sheik Abdul Hadi al-Mohammadawi, calling the U.S. “the enemy of Islam.”

“The government must know that it is the people who help it in the good and the bad times. If it throws the occupier out all the Iraqi people will stand by it,” the sermon read, using common rhetoric for the United States.

Al-Sadr reiterated in the sermon that his followers in both the armed and the peaceful factions of his movement will continue to work for the removal of U.S. forces.

Security was tight for the demonstration, with the area closed to traffic and heavily guarded by Iraqi soldiers in Humvees. Army snipers took positions on top of buildings overlooking the square. The Sadrists also provided their own security, searching worshippers as they approached the square.

The protesters included two Sunni clerics. Many arrived at the square on foot or by bus and carried prayer rugs, pieces of cardboard or newspapers for the mass prayer.

They waved Iraqi flags and green Shiite banners, chanting, “No, no to the American agreement!” and, “No, no to the agreement of humiliation!”

The Cabinet has approved the agreement, meaning it stands a good chance of passage in the 275-seat parliament where the government’s parties dominate. But for al-Maliki’s Dawa party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, its senior government partner, the margin of support is almost as important as the victory itself. A narrow vote for approval will cast doubt on the legitimacy of the new terms governing the U.S. troop presence.

Al-Sadr’s followers and other legislators opposed to the pact also try to could use the narrow vote to turn their anti-American message into a defining issue in provincial elections on Jan. 31 and general elections late in 2009.

If the agreement passes the legislature, it will go to the president and his two deputies for ratification. Each one has veto power.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Police arrested more than 80 protesters in downtown Minneapolis early Thursday following a concert by the political rock group Rage Against the Machine.

Lisa Kiava, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County sheriff’s office, says at least 85 people had been arrested, but final figures weren’t immediately available. She says most of the charges are expected to be misdemeanors.

Police had expressed concern Wednesday about the possibility of trouble after the concert. At least 320 people had been arrested in Minneapolis and St. Paul since Saturday in pre-emptive raids and at protests that were marred by violence from people hoping to interfere with the Republican National Convention.