Hundreds of others were marching towards the roundabout. Buses, cars and motorcycles carrying participants waving party flags crisscrossed the city early in the day.

The rally organised by the Indonesian Solidarity Committee for Iraqi People is to be held in front of the United States embassy in Central Jakarta.

Many people had begun to gather at the roundabout before their march to the mission some two kilometers (1.3 miles) away.

Most of the participants were Muslims, sporting white dresses or, in the case of women, veils. Many carried the flag of the Justice Party, a small but vocal radical Muslim political group.

The organisers -- a coalition of several Muslim organisations including the second largest Islamic movement, The Muhammadiyah, and the Indonesian Council of Ulemas which groups the nation's top clerics -- dubbed the gathering a rally of "one million believers."

The organisers have also said humanitarian aid would be collected for the Iraqi people.

Indonesia has seen daily protests against the US-led war on Iraq in most of its major cities.

Jakarta has strongly criticized the Iraq war and has been in the forefront of efforts to seek an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council or of the General Assembly in order to call a halt to the attack.

WAR.WIRE