The largest march in London's history took place on 15th February. Below are two accounts of what it was like to be there.

A Saturday of conversations. OK, not many conversations outside Sainsbury's at ten past seven in the morning, still dark and rather chilly as we wait for the coach to pick up the first half of the group in Rusholme. But on the coach, plenty of time to talk, with a friend from Holy Innocents who is very involved in refugee support, and with Rahella, who has organised this bus for the Stop the War coalition and keeps going up and down checking lists, distributing leaflets, admiring the diversity of the group that has come together here. The letters on our windows spell out Fallowfield and Rusholme, taking letters from those names to highlight notions as wide-ranging as Justice for Palestine and No War for Oil. At the service station on the M40 the sense of anticipation is very evident, most especially in the queues for the toilets. This is going to be a big event.

As we start down Gower Street near Euston, there is time to talk with the young Muslim student who is holding the other end of our banner. He's doing 'A' levels at college in the city centre and wants to be a dentist. We discuss the recent Channel 4 series on the Haj, which he found 'inspiring'. That was a crowd of epic proportions, and one that is seen every year. Mecca can cope ­ but so can London it seems. The organisation is impressive that enables this massive number of people to have our say with a tremendous sense of peacefulness. The police look calm. I sing, some of the time, joining in other people's songs. Sometimes the old ones are the best, says an elderly woman next to me, having finished leading a few quiet verses of 'We shall overcome'.

This march can't be good for business. Livingstone's congestion charging starts after this weekend and today is a last blast of snarled up streets ­ without a vehicle in sight, apart from the circling helicopters. We pass 'Les Miserables', and have a conversation of sorts with members of the caste, who are taking a break from rehearsal. They are leaning out of the windows wearing Louis XV hats and scarves, waving placards of their own which echo some of the thousands in the streets below. I shout 'Vive la Revolution', but that's not what this is. It's more like a picture of the best of multicultural Britain; it's a reclaiming of the power of protest against leaders who seem to have their arguments mixed up and to be ignoring the unintended consequences of their proposed actions on our behalf. Many placards testify to these sentiments. The environmentalists have their dig - 'More Trees Less Bush' - and one shows Bush and Blair in a tight clinch above the obvious slogan about Making Love Not War. But probably the most common slogan, other than Stop the War, is 'Not in my name'.

Conversations are impossible at the end of the march in Hyde Park, for me at least. I've lost the rest of my group; I was relying on a mobile phone to locate some friends, and my mum, who was on the other branch of the march along the Embankment. But everyone in the Park is trying to phone someone, and the antenna on top of the Park Lane Hotel is glowing red under the strain. Sufficient then to stand for a while looking at the people here, who have together made a statement of clarity if not simplicity; and thinking of many more who can't be here but would if they could. Saddam is ruthless and tyrannical, yes, but military action against him now is not right. We need more conversations; above all we need to renounce the politics that trade on fear. We should take courage, as many have today.
Andy Howes

It was quite moving to be in the presence of 1 million people of a similar mind , although from very diverse backgrounds. Ok, a lot of the usual suspects were there, but many, many more. The number clearly far exceeded expectations- at the beginning it took us 1.5 hrs in Gower St to move 200 yards. The route took us past Bloomsbury Baptist Church - the first time I had seen it. I accompanied Ruth's husband Barry and his brother who know London well, so when the march came to a halt at Piccadilly Circus, where the two strands met, we made a diversion via the Mall and arrived in Hyde Park to the sound of Charles Kennedy's voice. The speeches were rather mixed eg various union leaders, Bianca Jagger, Ken Livingston, Harold Pinter,Jesse Jackson......As we left, frozen, people were still arriving, but it didn't really matter if you missed the speeches. The point was, you were supporting the purpose of the march, and representing many others. It was something ordinary people could do - most do not have an audience like journalists etc.
Ted Land