Demonstrators marched by the tens of thousands in central London to protest against U.S. Bush's ongoing state visit to Britain

LONDON, November 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Demonstrators marched by the tens of thousands in central London on Thursday, November 20, in the biggest street protest against U.S. President George W. Bush's ongoing state visit to Britain.

More than 5,000 police officers were on duty to patrol the demonstrators, whose march was to take them past parliament and Downing Street to Trafalgar Square and the toppling of a giant papier-mache Bush effigy, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Wearing colorful wigs and armed with banners, drums and whistles, the protesters, including many young students, set off from Euston Square under dark gray skies.

"Wanted Bush and Blair for war crimes," read one banner. "A killer comes to town," said another.

The protesters' passion seemed indented by the double suicide attack in Istanbul against the British consulate and the Turkish headquarters of the British banking group HSBC, killing at least 26 with 450 injured.

One demonstrator, Frank Ng, 15, from London told AFP that the bombings were "just another repercussion of U.S. and British imperialist foreign policy".

"I want to show Bush he is not welcome," added another protester, student Eylem Doyan, 17. "He comes because he's got plans for the next war which will kill innocents."

Metropolitan Police chief Sir John Stevens said the biggest threat to security at the demonstration came from more than 1,000 protesters who had traveled from continental Europe intent "on causing trouble".

"The peace operation so far has been very successful," said Stevens, whose police force negotiated the route with the Stop the War Coalition, organizer of several previous big anti-war marches.

"But the bad news is that there is over 1,000 people from other parts of Europe absolutely intent on not carrying out peaceful protests and mischief-making."

Thursday's march was the culmination of a series of protests against Bush's visit organized by Stop the War, which spearheaded an unprecedented million-strong anti-war march on London's Hyde Park last February.

Demonstrators dressed as a secret service agent (L), two Guantanamo Bay detainees (C kneeling), Blair (3rd R), a U.S. soldier (2nd R) and Bush

Demonstrators angry at Anglo-American policy over Iraq were to topple a giant homemade statue of Bush in Trafalgar Square at 5:15 pm (1715 GMT), in the shadow of the piazza's landmark monument to naval hero Horatio Nelson.

Organizers say it would highlight the "fakeness" of the toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue by U.S. troops on April 9 in Baghdad -- one of the most poignant images of the Iraq war.

Co-organizers of Thursday's march were the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a veteran British peace group, and the Muslim Alliance of Britain, the nation's leading Muslim group.

Speaking ahead of the march, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "People have the right to protest and demonstrate in our country. That's part of our democracy.

"All I say to people is listen to our case as well. That's what a democratic exchange should be about."

On Wednesday, the first full day of Bush's state visit, several hundred demonstrators gathered at the front gates of Buckingham Palace to jeer the president.

Police have arrested 31 people since Bush's arrivals for a variety of offences, and despite some skirmishes there have been no serious incidents.

On Wednesday, about 350 protesters staged an "alternative royal procession" in central London to mock the ceremonial welcome given to Bush by Queen Elizabeth II within the Buckingham Palace grounds.

Bush returns to Washington on Friday, November 21.