In an officially-sanctioned protest in a sports stadium in Tanta, 90 kilometres (56 miles) north of Cairo, the crowd chanted anti-American and pro-Iraqi and pro-Palestnian slogans, according to an AFP photographer.

"To jihad, to jihad," they chanted, while others cried out that "Iraqis, Palestinians, your country is my country and your religion is my religion."

The ruling National Democratic Party and several opposition parties were represented at the rally.

Mass public street demonstrations are outlawed in Egypt, but in the light of spontaneous protests and the depth of public feeling over the war in Iraq, the interior ministry is tolerating organised demonstrations in enclosed areas, provided prior permission is sought.

Meanwhile, in Khartoum, 2,000 Sudanese children also took to the streets to protest against the war.

The children, nearly all under the age of 10, marched from the International People's Friendship Council to the United Nations offices where they handed in a message for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan demanding observance of the right to life for Iraqi and Palestinian children "like other children of the world."

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SPACE.WIRE