Tens of thousands of people are rallying in the Pakistani port city of Karachi against a possible US-led war in Iraq.
Security was tight as about 70,000 protesters marched through the city chanting "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is Great) and "The World Says No to War" in the biggest anti-US protest in Pakistan in years.
Demonstrators included women in burqas, the traditional head-to-toe dress for conservative Muslim females, who marched alongside men.
Some protesters brandished posters of Saddam Hussein and at least one placard was seen with the image of Washington's arch-nemesis, Osama bin Laden.
The rally was called by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of right-wing Islamic parties that made strong gains on the back of anti-US sentiment prompted by the U.S.-led war in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Also involved in the protests was the Tehreek-i-Insaf party of former cricket legend Imran Khan. A speaker from the party called on Pakistanis to boycott US products such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and McDonald's.
Police marksmen were perched on tall buildings surveying the emotionally charged crowd as it moved through Karachi's central business district. Many marchers and ordinary pedestrians were searched by police.
Slogans included "No War for Oil" and "No Blood for Oil".
"Bush - the real killer of humanity", read one placard.
The Islamists had called for a protest of more than a million people, but numbers fell far short of that in this teeming city of 14 million.
However, previous protests have attracted only a few thousand people countrywide.Pakistan, an Islamic country that has been a key ally in the U.S.-led war against terror, fears any attack on Iraq will stir unrest among its mainly Muslim population.
The government said on Friday it had not decided which way to vote on a resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would pave the way for war. It said all options for peace should be explored.
Right-wing Islamists have been angered by President Pervez Musharraf's decision to back the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks, assistance which helped hasten the overthrow of the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan.