Some 150 trade unionists protested in Kuala Lumpur this morning against the impending war o­n Iraq, marking the latest in a series of demonstrations held in the vicinity of the United States embassy.

The protesters, representing the Union Network International - Malaysian Liaison Council (UNI-MLC), were restricted to demonstrate peacefully at the foot of the Tabung Haji building in Jalan Tun Razak after police denied a request by the group to gather outside the embassy building.

The group led by MTUC deputy president Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal, carried banners and posters bearing "No to War" messages. A memorandum addressed to US President George W Bush was later handed over to a representative of the US embassy.

The UNI-MLC represents 120,000 Malaysian workers from 26 trade union affiliates. Among the groups represented at the demonstration were National Union of Telekom Employees (NUTE), the National Union of Newspaper Workers (NUNW), Union of Pos Malaysia Uniformed Staff (UPUS) and the Resort World Employees' Union (RWEU).

Shafie, accompanied by NUNW vice-president R Chandrasekaran and NUTE general-secretary Mohd Jafar Abd Majid, were later allowed into the tightly-guarded embassy to hand over the three-page memorandum.