In numerous towns of the state of Hesse school students gathered spontaneously on Thursday during school hours to register their anger and protest over the start of the US-led war against Iraq.

The biggest protest took place in Kassel, where 10,000 students assembled for the biggest rally the city had seen for a long time.

In Frankfurt, several thousand school students poured on to the Konstablerwache, a central spot in the city of Frankfurt, at lunchtime. They came from numerous secondary schools, colleges and professional schools.

Demonstrations big and small, coming from various areas of the city, converged on the city centre and gathered around a small loudspeaker van. Many students went to the microphone and expressed their disgust at the attack on Iraq by the US and called Bush a “war criminal”. On posters they demanded that Bush be tried by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

A large banner of the IGS (Integrated Comprehensive School) Nordend (an area of Frankfurt) demanded that the federal government refuse to grant the US and Britain the right to fly their military aircraft over German airspace and use their military air bases in Germany.

Pupils of the Gagern College received applause as they reported that many pupils had come to the demonstration although their head of school had forbidden them to do so. In other schools, teachers and some head teachers supported the pupils’ stand against the war and even allowed scheduling for classes to allow time to paint banners for the demonstration.

Before the crowd took off to a demonstration at the American Consulate General they blocked traffic on the highway adjacent to the Konstablerwache. Another demonstration for all Frankfurt students has been announced for Friday at noon.

In the afternoon, another 3,000 to 4,000 anti-war protesters rallied in Frankfurt city centre and marched to the American Consulate General in order to deliver their protest.