Tokyo: An anti-war protest by some 14,000 Japanese filled Tokyo's Hibiya Park on Saturday even as the government approved a new UN resolution setting March 17 as a final deadline for Iraq to disarm or face war. Carrying signs urging Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi not to "sell" Japan, protesters rallied in the downtown park before setting off on a peace parade. "Most Japanese are against war, but Koizumi is acting as if we are all part of the American system," said a 71-year-old retired man, who called himself Kei. "Even if we do not participate in an attack, we will be asked to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq. In this economic slump, it's worrisome that we just support whatever the United States says." A poll released Monday by Jiji press news agency found 84 per cent of Japanese opposed a US-led attack on Iraq, while Koizumi's support dropped eight points to 45 per cent. Seemingly unfazed by public hostility to its position, the government said that Japan, while not among the 15 members of the UN Security Council, supported a resolution sponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain that challenged a sharply divided Security Council to authorise war if Iraq does not disarm within 10 days. "We support this resolution as the final effort by the international community to pressure Iraq to disarm on its own," Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said in a statement. Protesters remained hopeful, however, that war could a least be postponed to give diplomatic efforts a chance to succeed.