Protesters ready for Bush visit

Organisers think more than 100,000 people join protests

Anti-war protesters are finalising their plans for demonstrations during the visit of US President George Bush.

Organisers of the Stop The War Coalition says opposition to the visit of the president, who is due to arrive on London on Tuesday night, is growing.

It claims more than 100,000 people will join the biggest demonstration in central London on Thursday.

However an opinion poll on Tuesday suggests more Britons back the president's visit than oppose it.

The Guardian/ICM opinion poll suggests that 43% of people welcome it, compared with 36% who say they would prefer Mr Bush did not come to the UK.

The UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged supporters of Mr Bush to make their voices heard along with those of the protesters

Protests will begin on Tuesday night with a Stop Bush Rally, where speakers will include MP George Galloway.

Tony Benn, playwright Harold Pinter, and CND chairman Kate Hudson will also speak.

Environmental protesters branding Mr Bush "public enemy number one" will stage a separate rally outside the US Embassy in Grovesnor Square.

Opposition is just snowballing Lindsey German Stop the War Coalition MP welcomes Bush visit Disruption warning for visit

Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, Lindsey German, said she believed more than 100,000 people would join the biggest demonstration, in central London on Thursday.

"Opposition is just snowballing. Our phones have not stopped ringing with calls from people wanting to show their opposition to the visit," she said.

"Feelings are running very strongly and the more we are told that we should welcome the president, the more opposition grows.

"We fully expect that over the next three days the true view of the British people will become evident."

Stewards

Police said organisers had acknowledged concerns about security and promised to do everything possible to keep the march on Thursday peaceful, as anti-war protests earlier this year were.

Ms Hudson, of CND, said between 250 and 300 stewards would accompany protesters on the march to ensure the peace was kept.

She said: "We have assured them that we will do everything in our power to ensure a peaceful demonstration.

"We are not about war, we are about peace. We are very grateful to the police for their co-operation in this matter and we should be in no doubt that this is a triumph for democracy."

The main march will take protesters across Westminster Bridge to file past Parliament and up Whitehall for a rally in Trafalgar Square.

Demonstrators will then topple, a papier-mache statue of President Bush with a miniature Tony Blair in its pocket.

'Alternative' state procession

A spokesman for the protest organisers said: "As he (Bush) sets his unwelcome feet on these shores, people who care about the environment will be gathering to express their anger at the man who has done more damage to the planet and to the future prospects of humanity than any human being before."

An "alternative" state procession will be held on Wednesday complete with a horse-drawn carriage and a protester dressed in regal-style robes.

Demonstrators are also planning a protest when President Bush visits Mr Blair's Sedgefield constituency on Friday.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw told the Today programme that the police were not too worried about the organised protests taking place.

"By and large, they know many of the organisers of the protests and they believe that they will be responsible.

"It's the people who break off and suddenly decide to block a road and climb fences at key buildings that they are really concerned about," he said.