The gathering, made up of mostly young men, marched around the stadium carrying a coffin with the word "UN" inscribed on it, to criticize the world body for having failed to stop the British and US invasion of Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was also a target of anger, and the demonstrators carried an effigy of him holding a bloodied knife and crushing Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock mosque with his other hand.

And the Arab leaders were not spared.

"Innocent children are dying while Muslim and Arab leaders ignore them," said one large banner, reflecting widespread feeling that Arab leaders could have done more to stop the offensive that started on March 20.

The rally was organized by the ruling National Democratic Party and Alexandria's governor Abdel Salam el-Mahgoub.

"No to American-Zionist Nazism," read one banned, while another said: "Israel will not extend from the Nile to the Euphrates."

Several veiled women sitting in the stands carried pictures of children killed in Iraq.

The war in Iraq has triggered massive demonstrations across Egypt during which some protesters criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other pro-US Arab leaders for not taking decisive action against war.

British journalist Patrick Seale wrote Friday in an opinion column in London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that "the governments in Egypt and Jordan, torn between their loyalty to the United States and the anger of their public opinion against war, have started to fear" unrest.

SPACE.WIRE