Reuters UK : Police expect up to 25,000 on anti-war march

Police expect up to 25,000 on anti-war march

September 23, 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - Up to 25,000 anti-war demonstrators are expected to march in Manchester on Saturday against the government's Middle East policies, police said.

Greater Manchester Police will deploy 1,000 officers during the march, which is being organised by the Stop the War Coalition, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

"We expect between 15,000 and 25,000, said a police spokeswoman.

Speakers will include maverick politician George Galloway, rights activist Bianca Jagger, musician Brian Eno and former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray.

Protesters will lie down in a "mass die-in" outside Manchester's G-Mex Centre, where Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party starts its annual conference on Sunday.

"Blair must know that his actions are not justifiable in the name of freedom, justice and democracy," said Muslim association spokesman Harris Bokhari.