Makassar – McDonald's restaurant at the Ratu Indah Mall here was still closed on Saturday following threats from anti-US demonstrators.

Hundreds of demonstrators on board three trucks thronged the tightly-guarded restaurant on Friday, threatening to set it ablaze unless the American fast-food chain closes and the US ends its assault on Iraq, Antara reported.

The demonstrators on Friday also staged a rally outside the Japanese Consulate to protest Japan's support for the US assault on Iraq.

The US-led military assault on Iraq deserves condemnation because it did not secure approval from the United Nations Security Council, they said.

They pressed for an immediate halt to the war, which has claimed the lives of thousands of Iraqi people.