Protestors stand 'shoulder to shoulder' down Whitehall
Several thousand people have lined a London street in protest at a possible military strike against Osama bin Laden.
About 3,000 protestors from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament stood "shoulder to shoulder" as they marched down Whitehall, mocking Prime Minister Tony Blair's description of Britain's political and military relationship with the US administration.
The protest, opposite the entrance to Downing Street, came a day after Mr Blair finished his tour of Europe and North America to drum up support for the anti-terrorist coalition.
CND chair Carol Naughton said the organisation opposed any military strike, and warned Mr Blair and US President George Bush that they risked being seen as terrorists themselves if they used any violent action.
"Any military strike is going to kill yet more civilians who don't deserve to die, in the same way as the Americans didn't deserve to die," she said.
"It will only create a spiral of violence and it will create a huge uprising against the US and, possibly, Britain. I would not condone any act of terrorism, but any action should be done through the proper channels."
Ms Naughton said even a very targeted strike by special forces would risk incurring civilian casualties.
"There can't be any kind of military strike. We've seen precision go wrong before, killing bunkers of women and children. All it will do is create terrorists out of Bush and Blair."
Protestors, many wearing black, waved leaflets saying "Stand shoulder to shoulder". Some held them up alongside white flowers.
Among the crowd, which stood between four and five deep, was singer David Gray.
