Pro-abortion activists stage anti-Bush protest in New York

Thousands of pro-abortion activists on Saturday marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and headed for a rally in the City Hall in New York to protest against the opposition to abortion by President George W. Bush and the Republicans.

The Brooklyn Bridge march, organized by the abortion rights group Panned parenthood, attracted thousands of people on a hot humid day. They crossed the bridge in a line of 10 people wide and about a half-mile long.

Organizers said about 15,000 people, most of them women, marched shoulder to shoulder across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, chanting "My Body, My Choice" to express support for a women's right to an abortion.

It was the latest in a growing procession of protests leading to the Republican National Convention, scheduled to open in New York on Monday.

"We are marching because we know the attention of the world and of the country is in New York City right now. We want to send a very clear message that we are not going to go back in terms of reproductive help and rights for women in this country," said Myrian Gerace of Planned Parenthood.

Saturday's protest was a prelude for Sunday when an estimated 200,000 people are expected to march past Madison Square Garden inNew York City to protest against the war in Iraq and other policies of President Bush under the banner "The World Says No to the Bush Agenda."

On Saturday, two people were arrested during a protest by some 200 people near the site of the Republican National Convention. Sofar 288 people had been taken into custody since anti-Bush protests began in New York on Thursday, the police said.

On Friday night, 264 people were arrested for disorderly conduct when about 5,000 cyclists rode through city streets, some past the convention arena, shouting "No More Bush." On Thursday, police arrested 22 people in three different demonstrations.

The Republican National Convention, scheduled to open in New York on Monday, is expected to last four days.

Amid fears of a possible terrorist attack during the convention,security in New York was ultra-tight, with 10,000 local police officers deployed as well as state and federal officers, SWAT teams, bomb squads and attack dogs.