Wootton Bassett called for politics to be kept out of its commemorations of Britain’s Afghan war dead today as a Muslim extremist group threatened to hold a demonstration in the town.

Al Muhajiroun said its followers intended to march through the town carrying empty coffins as a protest against Britain’s presence in Afghanistan.

But Wootton Bassett town council appealed to the group to stay away and said it was “opposed to any form of political march, protest or demonstration by any individual, group, organisation or party through the town if the subject of such an event has any reference to the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan”.

The town has seen huge crowds turn out for the return of the bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. A repatriation ceremony will take place on the High Street on Tuesday.

“Wootton Bassett has, unwittingly, found itself in the media spotlight for the way it acts as a focal point for paying respects to fallen armed forces personnel,” said Steve Bucknell, the town mayor.

“The people who attend the repatriations no doubt have a wide range of views about the conflicts, but those views are not voiced in our High Street, out of respect to those who have lost their lives and those who grieve for them.”

The call for the march came from Anjem Choudary who describes himself as UK leader of al-Muhajiroun. The group, which was founded by the exiled cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad, has a history of announcing inflammatory events and then cancelling them.

Mr Choudary claimed that 500 protesters would join such a demonstration, but his group is thought to have fewer than 50 members.

Last year it proposed a march in support of Sharia in Britain but abandoned the event claiming there had been threats of counter-demonstrations.

In 2002 it marked the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a "conference" under the banner "A Towering Day In History".

Wiltshire police said it had received no request from al-Muhajiroun, or its alternative name Islam4UK, to hold a march in Wootton Bassett.

A police spokesman said any proposed demonstration had to comply with public order legislation.

He added: "The Public Order Act states that the organiser must inform the police of the date, time and route of the proposed procession, together with the name and address of the organiser.

"If the march or procession is believed to be likely to result in serious disorder, disruption or damage, then the police can impose conditions upon the organiser.

"In exceptional circumstances, the police may apply to the local authority for an order prohibiting such a march."

Downing Street condemned the proposed march today. "The Prime Minister’s view would be obviously that anything that is considered to be offensive to, or of concern to, families of troops wounded or killed in Afghanistan would be completely inappropriate," Gordon Brown's spokesman said.

Allison Bucknell, mayoress of Wootton Bassett, described the plan as "a disgusting publicity stunt" which she predicted would attract little support.

"Thankfully they are a tiny minority and local Islamic groups in Wiltshire are totally opposed to them," said Mrs Bucknell.

"This is a small group set on causing merry hell. I don’t pretend to understand their mentality."

A page on a social networking site dedicated to preventing the march has attracted 120,000 members.

In a statement on his website, Mr Choudary wrote: "It is worth reminding those who are still not blinded by the media propaganda that Afghanistan is not a British town near Wootton Basset but rather Muslim land which no one has the right to occupy, with a Muslim population who do not deserve their innocent men, women and children to be killed for political mileage and for the greedy interests of the oppressive US and UK regimes.

"The procession in Wootton Basset is therefore an attempt to engage the British publics minds on the real reasons why their soldiers are returning home in body bags and the real cost of the war."

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