Ananova:

A group of about 100 protesters marched to Blackburn Town Hall, where US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to meet Muslim leaders and local dignitaries.

Dr Rice is in the North West as the guest of Foreign Secretary and local MP Jack Straw.

She is due at the Town Hall after a visit to Blackburn cathedral.

Protesters shouted: "Condoleezza Rice go home" and "Rice, Straw, unjust war."

At the front of the procession, six demonstrators wore orange boiler suits to protest against the imprisonment of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Mounted police rode in front of the protesters, who were flanked by uniformed officers.

Protest leader Hanif Dudhuala said they were marching in solidarity with the victims of American oppression.

As the protesters approached Blackburn Town Hall their numbers had increased to about 200.

Some carried orange banners identifying themselves as members of the radical Muslim group Hizb Ut-Tahrir.

The banner read "War on terror equals war on Islam".