At petitiononline.com, a group calling itself 'Taxpayers Against a Wall Street and Mortgage Bailout' has attracted 13,865 signatures to an online petition to President George W. Bush and Congress opposing the bailout.

'Please do not support the efforts to bail out mortgage holders and mortgage lenders with my tax dollars,' the petition urges.

At NoWallStreetBailout.com, a website sponsored by FreedomWorks, a group with the stated goals of 'Lower taxes, less government and more freedom,' visitors are urged to sign a petition to be sent to members of Congress.

As of Friday morning, 7,190 names were listed on the online petition which says 'Banks and their millionaire CEO's should take losses for risky lending, not taxpayers.' Petitions are not limited to advocates of unfettered free-market capitalism.

Votenobailout.org, a project of impeachbush.org, urges readers to contact their member of Congress to oppose the bailout and provides a preformatted letter for their convenience.

Another site, FinancialPetition.org, claims to have 3,960 signatures on its petition opposing the bailout addressed to President Bush, members of Congress and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

The online anti-bailout efforts were first reported by the technology news website CNET.

Further talks on the rescue plan between the Bush administration and Republican and Democratic members of Congress were to be held on Friday. -- AFP