NEW YORK — Hundreds of protesters calling for the end of funding for the Iraq war or the immediate return of US troops marched Sunday and converged on a park near the United Nations headquarters.Union members, representatives of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow-PUSH Coalition, war veterans and others joined the demonstration, one of several staged during the weekend across the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.

The crowd of a few hundred protesters grew as the procession, which stretched for several blocks, moved on.

Actor Tim Robbins, among the speakers at the rally, organiSed by the New York chapter of United for Peace and Justice, told the crowd that getting Congress to cut off funds for the war “would be a good way” to get the troops home.

“The American people want this war to end,” Robbins said. “That’s the message they sent last November in the election. When are we going to start listening to them?”

Robbins, a frequent war protest participant with his partner, actress Susan Sarandon, also referred to the recent revelations of substandard care and facilities at the military’s Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington.

“You want to support the troops? First get them home, then take care of them,” he said.

Police lined sidewalks, and some walked ahead of the protesters as they marched toward the offices of Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Demonstrators carried signs reading “Impeach Bush,” and “Not one more dollar, not one more death.”

No counter-demonstrators were visibly present, as they had been at a larger anti-war rally in Washington on Saturday.

President Bush was at Camp David in Maryland for the weekend. Spokesman Blair Jones said of the protests: “Our Constitution guarantees the right to peacefully express one’s views. The men and women in our military are fighting to bring the people of Iraq the same rights and freedoms.”

Police offered no crowd estimate in New York, but it appeared to be well over 1,000 people and possibly up to 2,000.

Trish Gorman, who rode a bus with 55 other people from Bennington, Vermont, to take part in the protest, said: “The people have to speak. The government is not listening to the people. Sitting quietly at home is not doing it.”

She said she supported a “safe and well-thought-out defunding and withdrawal” from Iraq.

Michelle Barish said she had sent a gas mask to her brother, a soldier soon to be deployed to Iraq, but was concerned that cutting funds was not the right way to bring the war to an end.

“If they cut off funding, does that mean I’m going to have to send a bullet proof vest and care packages?” she asked.

Saturday’s demonstrations drew thousands of war opponents to the Pentagon, crossing the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial to rally loudly but peacefully. Thousands more gathered in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hartford, Connecticut.