Tens of thousands set to march against Iraq war

Last Update: Saturday, September 24, 2005. 9:09pm (AEST)

Tens of thousands of people were expected to march in central London on Saturday calling for an end to the US-led war in Iraq and for the return of British troops from the country.

London's protest rally is being held to coincide with similar marches in Washington, Rome, Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki.

The Stop The War coalition, which organised the London rally jointly with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain, said it expected at least 100,000 people to take part.

"Today coincides with the demonstration in Washington DC and is also the eve of the Labour Party annual conference," which Prime Minister Tony Blair will attend in the southern city of Brighton, Stop the War spokesman Viven Lehal said.

The demonstrators were due to set off from the Houses of Parliament at around noon, arriving at Hyde Park two hours later where the rally was to continue.

British anti-war campaigners have been calling for the return of the 8,500 British troops deployed as part of the US-led forces in Iraq.

"We want to withdraw the troops from Iraq. Clearly what happened in Basra this week shows that British troops aren't helping there, they make the situation worse," Viven Lehal said.

The past week saw an upsurge of tensions around the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where many of Britain's troops in the country are based.

British troops stormed an Iraqi police station after two British undercover soldiers were arrested by the police and then kidnapped by a Shiite militia.

Authorities in Basra have been refusing to engage with British troops following the incident.

Saturday's protest was also called in protest at counter-terrorism measures proposed by the government in the wake of the London bombings in July, and perceived by critics as a threat to civil liberties - and to mark concern at a sharp rise in racist incidents in the wake of the bombings, Lehal said.

-AFP
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