Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s clear and categorical rejection of German participation in any military operation in Iraq helped him garner votes during the 2002 federal elections because a majority of Germans agreed with the red-green coalition on this question. According to one survey, in August 2002, 67% of Germans opposed German participation in the war in Iraq; as the crisis escalated, the number rose even higher, reaching 72% in January 2003. On February 15, 2003, an estimated 6 to 10 million people demonstrated against the imminent war in Iraq in more than 70 cities throughout the world. In Berlin, 500,000 people turned out to protest– far more than the 100,000 that the organizers had expected. The large banner in the center is addressed to Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer; it reads: “Don’t give up, Gerd + Joschka!”