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Saturday's protests kick off several days of activism ahead of Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion.

Protesters took to the streets of Halifax on Saturday to march against the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Canada's war in Afghanistan.

"We're here to speak up for those who can't be here today, the 655,000 Iraqi civilians who have been killed during the Iraq occupation over the last four years," Stuart Neatby, organizer of the march, told CTV Atlantic.

"And the estimated three to five thousand Afghan civilians who have been killed as a result of NATO bombings in Afghanistan over the last year alone."

The protest comes one day after the funeral of Cpl. Kevin Megeney, who was the 46th Canadian solider killed in Afghanistan.

"The Canadian government has thrust members of the Canadian forces into an incredibly dangerous position," Neatby said.

Dean Walcott has experienced the war in Iraq first hand. Walcott recently defected to Canada after serving as a U.S. Marine for six years. He decided to make the move to Canada after treating burn victims overseas.

"Seeing them come in missing their legs and their arms, you couldn't tell who they were because their faces were so badly burned. If there is going to be suffering on that large a scale than there needs to be a bigger reason than our presidents said so," Walcott told CTV Atlantic.

U.S. march for peace

Thousands marched to the Pentagon, retracing the steps of an epic demonstration four decades ago when the Vietnam War provoked similar division among Americans.

Saturday's D.C. anti-war demonstrators were shadowed by a group of counter-protesters who supported U.S. involvement in the war-torn region.

Signs reading "illegal war" were contrasted with those that read "Peace Through Strength."

Demonstrators from both camps marched from the Lincoln Memorial across the Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River in order to get as close to the Pentagon as possible.

Police and barriers separated the two groups of demonstrators, who shouted at each other from opposite sides of Constitution Avenue near the Lincoln Memorial before the anti-war group marched.

Others gathered for similar anti-war demonstrations across the U.S. and around the world.

About 1,000 people protested in Athens, Greece, while more than 3,000 gathered for peaceful protests in Istanbul, Turkey. Others gathered in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

In the U.S. rallies were planned for Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Hartford, Conn., and Lincoln, Neb. in the days ahead of the Tuesday anniversary.

The division between the U.S. demonstrators who were for and against the U.S. involvement served as a microcosm for the increasingly deep divide between Americans' feelings on the conflict.

"Too many people have died and it doesn't solve anything," said Ann O'Grady, who drove through snow with her husband, Tom, and two children, 13 and 10, from Athens, Ohio.

"I feel bad carrying out my daily activities while people are suffering, Americans and Iraqis."

Some active-duty service members also joined the anti-war protest. U.S. rules allow them to demonstrate but limit what they can say.

On the other side, 22-year-old Raleigh N.C. native Henry Sowell, who fought with the Marines in Iraq in 2005, said anti-war protesters were "taking away what my buddies died for and what I fought for."

Vietnam veteran Larry Stimeling, 57, said the loss of public support for the Iraq war mirrors what happened in Vietnam.

An estimated 50,000 demonstrators marched against that war on Oct. 21, 1967 on the same spot as Saturday's gathering.

The massive protest turned violent when authorities clashed with radical elements of the crowd. More than 600 were arrested.

"We didn't lose the war in Vietnam, we lost it right here on this same ground," he said, pointing to the grass on the National Mall. "It's the same thing now."

With a report by CTV's Tracy Prysiazniuk and files from The Associated Press