Up to 1,000 people turned out in Bradford city centre yesterday to voice their opposition to the war.

Students walked out of lectures, schoolchildren deserted their classrooms and workers left offices to join together in protest at the conflict.

They poured into Centenary Square for a peaceful anti-war demonstration organised by Bradford Stop the War Coalition and CND. Speeches from religious, political and community leaders were followed by an interfaith peace vigil, involving representatives from Bradford's Muslim, Christian and Sikh communities.

At the end of the one-hour protest a "die-in" was staged in the square, involving people lying down on the ground, with their body shape drawn in chalk around them, to symbolise the potential loss of life in the war.

As people started gathering, minutes before the City Hall clock chimed 5pm a large procession of students from Bradford University, shouting anti-war chants, marched into the square.

The students staged a walk-out of lectures yesterday to attend a vigil at the university, before marching into town to join the protest. Around the square stood crowds of people of different religions and from different walks of life.

Teenagers in school uniform grouped together, parents hoisted children onto their shoulders, and pensioners clutched placards, wrapped up warm against the late afternoon chill.

Passing motorists sounded their horns in support and shoppers and people leaving work made their way through rush-hour crowds onto the square.

Mary Best, 70, of Shipley, said she was there because "this war is simply wrong. I remember the Second World War - I was a child then - and I don't want the children of this generation to go through another. This war is morally unjustifiable and I can't stand by and let it happen without using my voice."

Bradford University student Shazia said: "I'm here because I don't agree with Britain's involvement in this conflict. We should pull out. Protests like this show the Government that ordinary people don't want this war."

Green Councillor David Ford took to the stage first and told the crowd: "This is a sad day. The fact that it's no surprise doesn't make it any less tragic or unnecessary.

"This rally shows that in Bradford we can co-exist peacefully. The war we have been dragged into screaming must not be mirrored in this community."

Councillor Mukhtar Ali (Lab, Bowling) said people from different faiths and social classes in Bradford "said no to this war."

"You must continue to oppose it, this campaign is going to grow bigger. You must show that you will not be conned. You have voices and you have votes."

Sher Azam, president of Bradford Council for Mosques, said: "We do not condone the corrupt and despotic regime of Saddam Hussain. But we believe that the international community has not exhausted all the options available to it for toppling him from power and restoring democracy and prosperity to the country."

The Bradford protest mirrored demonstrations around the world, including one in San Fransisco, which resulted in more than 1,000 arrests.

Protests also erupted in Asia and Australia. The streets of Melbourne were choked with 5,000 protesters as mock air raid sirens wailed. And in Islamabad, Pakistan's religious right urged anti-war activists to stage marches. US embassies in Egypt, the Philippines, Argentina, Italy and France, were all under siege from demonstrators.

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