MARCH 31: ANTI-WAR protesters draped a banner over a major road into Swindon at the weekend.

Members of the Swindon Stop The War Coalition posted the flag above the southbound carriageway of the A419 at a bridge near Cricklade.

The banner read "Say No to Bush and Blair's War on Iraq".

And they set up a peace camp on a grass verge next to the bridge for four hours on Saturday afternoon before being moved on by Gloucestershire Police.

The campaigners want to highlight the fact that RAF Fairford is being used by American bombers as a base for their nightly missions to Baghdad.

Kate Holcombe, 42, from Evesham, was one of the first protesters to set up camp outside Gate 10 at Fairford.

She said: "I wanted to come here because I am excluded from Gate 10. A lot of us have been arrested for ridiculous reasons and have been stopped from going to Gate 10 so we wanted to continue and protest and it is much more visible."

Tony Hiller, chairman of the Coalition, said: "We are bringing the message to the people so they can see it loud and clear. That is why people are beeping their horns in support of us, because they are against the war."

Inspector Les Pritchard, of Gloucestershire Police, said: "The peace protesters were so close to the bypass that it was considered dangerous for them to be there and they were causing an obstruction.

"Patrols were deployed to move them from the area and the banner was removed from the bridge because it was also causing an obstruction."