AUGUSTA (AP) – An anti-war rally and march in Maine’s capital Saturday drew 1,000 or more participants registering their opposition to U.S. military involvement in Iraq, according to event organizers and capitol police.

“We’ve come together basically to say occupation and empire is wrong,” said Tim Sullivan, co-ordinator of the Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice.

Similar gatherings around the globe and across northern New England marked the war’s first anniversary.

A counter-rally drew about 100 participants, many waving U.S. flags.

Marchers opposing the war gathered in a parking lot beside the State House to listen to speeches and music before and after a 45-minute circuit through a busy part of the city.

Some brought children, some brought dogs, many carried signs criticizing the U.S. war effort and President Bush.

“We’re all for the men and women in Iraq,” Sullivan said, blaming the national leadership for wrongheaded policy.

“Our government is creating a hostile world to the United State,” he said.

The smaller band of enthusiastic counter-demonstrators lined a nearby stretch of Western Avenue, a major city thoroughfare, urging passing motorists to honk their horns as a show of support.

“We’re here so the troops know we support them,” said Erica Nawfel, 27, of Waterville, who said she was active in a veterans history project and seeking a seat in the Legislature. “We know that freedom isn’t free.”

State police reported a few verbal exchanges between the two groups but no major problems.

“Our voices will surely be heard this November,” Richard Clement, the Pittston father of a 21-year-old soldier currently in Kuwait preparing to enter Iraq, told cheering critics of the war.

Families such as his have “a very personal stake in the war,” Clement said.

Labeling the war “illegal” and based on “lies,” he asked: “How long is this going to go on?”

Activists made a payment of more than $1,700 on Friday to cover police and cleanup costs after a federal judge in Bangor refused to overturn the fee requirements in Augusta’s parade ordinance, the Kennebec Journal reported.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock struck down a requirement that marchers post a $10,000 insurance bond before being granted a parade permit.

AP-ES-03-20-04 1446EST