THOUSANDS took to London’s streets yesterday to protest about the financial crisis, climate change, the war in Afghanistan . . . anything they could blame on Gordon Brown.

Organisers of the Put People First march described it as an “unprecedented alliance of more than 150 bodies - from the National Pensioners Convention to the TUC”.

Representing the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Diane Brace said: “Over here you’ve got Save the Children, and over there the hammer and sickle. It’s an interesting coalition. You’ve got every group that wants change, although I haven’t seen the Labour party.”

Placards suggested the key issues were climate change and the financial crisis, while the greed of bankers and people’s reluctance to pay for it was a constant refrain.

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A large contingent of protesters against global warming appeared and a crowd estimated by police to be about 35,000 gathered in Hyde Park. There they were addressed by celebrities, union leaders and other campaigners including Tony Robinson, the television presenter and actor, best known as Blackadder’s Baldrick.

He told the crowd: “The forces of greed are tenacious and our marching up and down won’t make a difference on its own.” He said he wanted to see the G20 meeting, which takes place this week, discuss “proper regulation of capital and serious investment in a green economy”.

Professor Chris Knight, who was suspended earlier in the week from the University of East London for suggesting bankers should be hung from lampposts, was ejected by security guards when he returned to demand the university turn the lights off at 8.30pm to mark Earth Hour.

“The bankers in Canary Wharf have switched their lights off but the university management can’t,” the professor of anthropology bellowed as he was bundled from the building.

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