Between 1,500 and 4,000 people, depending on sources, protested against the war outside a key NATO naval base hosting US ships on Crete near the city of Chania.

Protestors threw stones and firebombs at the base and police used tear gas to disperse them.

The organizers of the protest, the anti-globalization Greek Social Forum, erected a large banner outside the base reading: "No to war. Close down the base."

Demonstrators took to the streets of Chania Saturday and then marched to the base where they camped out overnight.

Left-wing opposition parties have called since the start of the war for the base to be closed. But the government of Socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis, has said a US-Greek agreement on use of the base by US warships will not be changed.

In Athens dozens of people, mostly Palestinians residing in Greece, demonstrated against the war in front of the US embassy, ANA news agency said.

In Spain, police said 15,000 people attended an open-air concert in central Madrid, under banners reading "music for peace" and "stop the war."

Organizers said at least 500,000 people had gathered for the concert near the city's Alcala gate to listen to performances by some 20 Spanish artists including Ana Belen and Joaquim Sabina.

"Peace is with us, in homes, in streets, in parliament, in factories, in universities. No one will silence us," Spain's top anti-terrorist judge Baltasar Garzon told the crowd.

"To gag a people and take hostage their freedom of speech is the same as trying to finish them off," Garzon said.

The concert was one of a string of anti-war efforts -- including legal action against the government -- organised in Spain, where the public overwhelmingly opposes the staunch support for the war by Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Sunday's concert was organised by the "Culture Against the War" group, the Socialist party's Social Forum, a coalition of far-left parties and the country's two main unions.

It took place at a venue smaller than originally planned, after the city authorities requested a last-minute change of location.

In the northwestern region of Galicia, police said 20,000 people demonstrated against the war in Santiago de Compostela.

The ruling right-wing Popular Party (PP) said five of its regional offices were vandalized overnight, apparently in protest at the war.

In Merida, in the western region of Estremadura, protestors threw stones through the windows of the party headquarters and painted "No to war" on its walls, the PP said.

In El Vendrell, in the eastern region of Catalonia, a suspected arson attack partially destoyed PP offices. In Corberra, also in Catalonia, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the house of a PP official but the device did not explode, the party said.

In Coslada, near Madrid, police detained an 18-year-old who allegedly broke a PP office window during the night.

In Bulgaria, some 200 people attended an open-air concert in the capital, Sofia.

SPACE.WIRE