PROTESTERS from Burnley and Nelson headed to London to join protests against the state visit of US President George Bush.

Around 20 people joined hundreds of others from across the county who travelled to the capital to take part in yesterday's rally.

Among the protestors was Pendle student Katie Bradshaw, 20, a student at Leeds University who joined tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets in what was thought to be Britain's largest weekday protest.

The rally culminated in the toppling of an 18ft effigy of Mr Bush to underline feelings of animosity toward the president.

A massive security operation was in place around Downing Street for the meeting between Mr Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Katie, a humanities and social studies student, of Kelswick Drive, Nelson, said: "We felt it was important to take part in the demo to stand up for the right of democracy. His visit is a joke - it cost £9million to send him here and it has cost the tax payer millions to pay for the security operation. We believe 15,000 were killed in the war against Iraq for his own political agenda - he's lied to us and lied to his people."

Iraq and the war on terror were expected to be at the top of the agenda at the meeting between Bush and Blair.

Protestors also marked their objections to the visit with a series of events in the region, including members of the Stop the War Coalition who put up a banner on the Culvert Bridge in Burnley dressed as George Bush and the Grim Reaper.

Members of the group were also due to hand in a petition to local police demanding the arrest of the Prime Minister for taking part in the war in Iraq.