MORE than 450 people from Bolton will head to London tomorrow (Saturday) to join a march protesting against a possible war in Iraq.

Eight coaches, plus a chartered train with 60 passengers, will head south in the early hours of the morning to join up to half a million protestors from around the country.

Bolton Stop The War Coalition is providing two coaches, with the town's Muslim community sending six.

All leave at 7am, 15 minutes after a train hired by the North West branch of the Fire Brigade Union is due to depart.

Malcolm Pittock, secretary of Bolton CND, said: "There's been a real escalation in support in the last few days, and from speaking to organisers in Bury and Wigan, it's clear they've found the same.

"It's interesting that so many people are against the war even if there is a second UN resolution. We've never known anything like it.

"It could very well be the biggest political demonstration that London has ever seen."

Rafiq Adam, who helped publicise the march among the town's mosques -- but stressed he was speaking as an individual rather than as a community spokesman -- said: "There are a lot of double standards around concerning weapons of mass destruction. Israel is allowed to have them and it's not on.

"Basically what the Americans are saying is 'We write international law'.

"The large majority of the Muslim population in Bolton, young and old, want to voice their opinion against this war."

The numbers of protestors is expected to be swelled by those travelling down independently and by Boltonians based in London.

The march will start at noon from two different places --from the Embankment and outside the British Museum.

It will culminate in a rally in Hyde Park with performances from singers Ms Dynamite and Blur's Damon Albarn.

The rally will also feature speeches from London mayor Ken Livingstone, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and playwright Harold Pinter.