MICHAEL MOORE, the documentary-maker, led tens of thousands of protesters past the venue of the Republican convention yesterday in a march against the war in Iraq.

The marchers in New York included Vietnam veterans, soldiers back from Iraq, relatives of those killed in the September 11 attacks, a Palestinian poet and a US diplomat who resigned over the war.

“Would you be willing to sacrifice your child to secure Fallujah? That is the question we have for the Republicans this week,” Mr Moore said.

His record-breaking documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has made him the darling of the anti-Bush camp in America. “I think we have to restore the draft — but only for the sons of politicians and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies,” he said.

Police gave no official estimate of the size of the crowd, but one law enforcement official put it at 120,000, well short of the goal of 250,000. Organisers put it at 400,000.

Ten people were arrested when someone set light to a pâpier maché green dragon and more than 50 cyclists were held for blocking traffic.

Protesters waved banners proclaiming “We are making enemies faster than we can kill them.” Women calling themselves the “Axis of Eve” posed in red-satin knickers emblazoned with slogans.

A man in a Bush face mask and air force flight suit mocked the President’s triumphant appearance aboard an aircraft carrier after the Iraq invasion, when a banner proclaimed “Mission accomplished”.

“Mission unaccomplished” has become the Democrat slogan to counter the Republican convention. “The war in Iraq has made us less safe,” said Terry Rockefeller, who lost a sister in the attack on the World Trade Centre. “We will protest ‘till this war is over.”

Several arrests were made as a few thousand demonstrators gathered in Times Square at the end of the march. A similar number defied a ban on protests in Central Park.

The march was expected to be the biggest event in a week of protests against the Republicans in the city. One poll said that 11 per cent of New Yorkers planned to join a protest.

• A US citizen and a Pakistani national were arrested for allegedly plotting to bomb the subway station near the convention venue. Police said that the two were not thought to be linked to al-Qaeda and had not obtained explosives.

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