Vigils took place in several Asian and European cities and more were due later on Monday evening in a series of events planned in 22 countries by branches of the London-based global human rights body Amnesty International.

In the French capital, dozens of people dressed in black lay down on the ground imitating corpses beside a fountain in the central neighbourhood of Beaubourg.

An Amnesty spokesman addressed a crowd of some 150 people, describing what he termed "a terrible series of atrocities and war crimes" in Lebanon.

A blistering offensive by Israeli military planes and ground troops aimed at crushing Hezbollah Shiite militants in Lebanon is now in its fourth week. More than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers.

In Rome several hundred people gathered at the foot of an ancient Roman arena, the Coliseum, where candles were lit spelling out "ceasefire" in Italian.

In Hong Kong, about 100 people took part in a candle-lit vigil on the harbour waterfront, observing a minute's silence and spelling out "ceasefire" in English and Chinese.

Dozens of people joined an event involving speeches and prayers in the Taiwanese capital Taipei.

"Our appeal is that Israel and Hezbollah immediately cease fire after so many people were killed in the conflict," said Wei-kai Tseng, director of the Amnesty International's Taipei branch.

Participants also called for a comprehensive arms embargo on both sides and demanded that international humanitarian aid and relief be sent to families of the victims and the refugees forced to flee their homes.

Amnesty International's branch in Seoul, South Korea, held an earlier candle-lit vigil on Saturday.

Explaining the motivation for the vigils last week, Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan said: "The human cost of this conflict is far too high."

"We demand that the international community call an immediate ceasefire," she added. "Civilians in both Lebanon and Israel cannot be left in the line of fire.

"Governments must stop fuelling this suffering by imposing an arms embargo against Israel and Hezbollah and refusing to allow the transer of weapons to or through their territories."

A smaller vigil was also held in Amsterdam on Monday. The Netherlands branch of Amnesty criticised the Dutch government's failure to condemn strongly what Amnesty said were human rights abuses committed by both sides in the Lebanon conflict.

It also criticised the use of a Dutch airport by US planes en route to Israel carrying arms which it said might be used in the conflict.

A vigil was held at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, with others expected in the German city of Hanover and several Spanish cities including Madrid, Seville and Valencia.

A vigil in the Spanish capital Madrid was due to start at 9:30 pm (1930 GMT) on the city's major Puerta del Sol square.

Amnesty branches were also due to hold vigils in the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Britain, Chile, India, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mali, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, the United States and Venezuela.

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