ROME, Sept 10 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people joined in a torchlit procession through the Italian capital on Friday to call for the release of two women aid workers held hostage in Iraq.
The march came as the Italian government said it was prepared to lobby for the release of any Iraqi prisoners being held unfairly in the country, in an apparent bid to meet a purported ultimatum set by the kidnappers.
Children and adults marched in silence under rainbow-coloured banners and slogans calling for peace in Iraq, to press for the release of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, kidnapped at gunpoint from their Baghdad office on Tuesday.
Organisers said 80,000 people had turned out in support of the hostages, whose capture comes less than a month after Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was seized and executed by militants in Iraq.
A statement in the name of the Ansar al-Zawahiri militant group earlier Friday gave Rome 24 hours to promise to release Muslim women prisoners in Iraq in return for details about the two Italian volunteers.
Although the message's authenticity could not be confirmed, the Italian government issued a statement saying it would "pursue its action with all the relevant institutions to ensure that any possible detainees who are deprived of freedom without necessary proof are released".
The text added however that the final decision about releasing any detainees would lie with the Iraqi authorities.
"We hope that this demonstration will be a signal for peace in Iraq and for the release of all hostages, Italian, Iraqi and French," said Ileana, 34, a volunteer for the Italian charity Un Ponte Per Baghdad (A Bridge to Baghdad), for which both hostages work.
The women's families had asked participants to refrain from political sloganeering during the march -- although one group carried a yellow banner calling for the US-led troops to pull out of Iraq, drawing an angry reaction from others in the crowd.
"There is a time for everything. Now is a time for unity," said Piero Fassino, leader of the opposition Democrates of the Left.
"We are here to say no to terrorism because no problem in the world, no matter how serious, can be solved by violence.
"And we are here to call for the release of two young women committed to working with children. They must be returned to their families," he added.
The Rome government was severely criticised for not doing enough to save Baldoni's life and the new hostage-taking has sparked calls for national unity.
Leading Muslim figures earlier Friday recorded prayers held at Rome's main mosque calling for the release of the aid workers, which will be broadcast on television stations in the Arab world.
Italy has 3,000 soldiers and paramilitary police in Iraq as part of the US-led force which invaded last year and now provides military muscle for the interim administration.