Several thousand people of all ages took to the streets of the Belgian capital of Brussels on Sunday in protest at the bloodshed in the Middle East.

It was for the second consecutive Sunday that people held demonstration in Brussels against the war in Lebanon.

A group of young children wearing white T-shirts and carrying white balloons were at the head of the march.

Also at the front of the march were a group of men dressed as Israeli soldiers and a model of an Israeli tank driven by a caricature of the U.S. President George W. Bush.

According to the organizer, their presence and that of the children was meant to symbolize "Israeli aggression against the civilian population of Lebanon".

As at last Sunday's demonstration, many people carried Palestinian and Lebanese flags.

However, this time many more Belgians joined members of the ethnic minorities at the protest.

There were also more middle aged and older people than at the first peace demonstration on 30 July.

A little further on the demonstrators carried coffins baring Lebanese and Palestinian flags. The protesters want an immediate cease-fire to be called in Lebanon.