Thousands Protest on Eve of Bush Visit

BERLIN -- Shouting "Yankee go home", about 20,000 protesters marched peacefully in Berlin against U.S. policies today on the eve of a visit by President Bush that officials fear may widen a transatlantic rift rather than close it.

German authorities have mobilized 10,000 police - a post-war record for a state guest - to contain any violence from demonstrators protesting on issues ranging from a possible U.S. attack on Iraq to Washington's policies on trade, the environment and the Middle East.

Protesters marched through eastern Berlin chanting "Yankee go home" and waving banners reading "No blood for oil" and "Axis of Evil runs through the Pentagon," a jibe at Bush's description of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil."

Meanwhile, several hundred pro-U.S. demonstrators paraded at the former U.S.-run border crossing between East and West Berlin, dubbed Checkpoint Charlie.