Kolkata: Nineteen Left parties in West Bengal on March 30 held a massive rally and procession in the city to protest against war in Iraq, disrupting life on a laid- back Sunday.

The state Left Front chairman Biman Bose flagged off the biggest anti-war procession by releasing a bunch of colourful balloons from a dais near Akashvani Bhavan in the presence of leaders of his party CPM (Communist Party of India - Marxist), besides those from the Communist Party of India (CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc.

Effigies of George W Bush and Tony Blair were burnt by the angry protesters amidst anti-war slogans.

The participants, carrying placards and tableaux, then began their procession to the singing of peace songs and shouting of slogans against what they described as barbaric attack against humanity.

''How many lives to a gallon?'' cried a placard.

Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu was a star attraction in the rally, although he left after walking a few steps.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee walked along with the processionists for sometime.

Many of his Cabinet colleagues, Leftist MPs, MLAs and political party activists also walked shoulder-to-shoulder in the procession together with some famous personalities including filmmaker Mrinal Sen, singer-actress Ruma Guha Thakurta, theatre personalities Sova Sen, Bibhas Chakraborty, mime exponent Jogesh Dutta and magician P C Sorcar.

As the processionists - the police put their number at about one lakh - inched their way from Akashvani Bhavan to Deshbandhu Park a few kilometres away in North Kolkata, traffic in the city came to a grinding halt.

Public transport was scanty during the day as a build-up to the procession.

PTI