A COACHLOAD of protesters from East Lancashire joined 10,000 others in Trafalgar Square in a massive anti-Europe rally.

Campaigners from East Lancashire branch of the UK Independence Party and the Democracy Movement joined protesters from across the country to raise their objections to the new Nice Treaty which Tony Blair proposes to sign in the French town in a few weeks.

Graham Cannon, of the Independence Party, said: "The aim was to draw people's attention to the Nice Treaty. These dry documents don't seem to have any immediate impact but they will have a profound effect on people's lives in the future."

Mr Cannon said proposals to remove the Crown insignia from the front of British passports was another example of Brussels bureaucrats not considering British people's views and concerns.

The protesters marched from Hyde Park along Park Lane and Piccadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square to hear speakers ranging from Tory John Redwood to the editor of the Communist Daily Worker and representatives from the Danish Euro "No" campaign.