AROUND 400,000 campaigners have taken part in a countryside rights march in London in one of Britain's biggest rallies.

　　Farmers, hunters, landowners and rural residents and workers flocked from every corner of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to bring London to a standstill and demand Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Government must do more to protect their traditional way of life.

　　Police confirmed figures released by the Countryside Alliance showing 400,000 had passed the finishing point of Sunday's march by late afternoon, seven hours after the start, with many more waiting behind.

　　The Alliance said the Liberty and Livelihood march was part of the fight to protect a lifestyle put at risk by the government and initiatives introduced by people who do not live in or understand the countryside.

　　They are protesting against moves to ban fox hunting and demanding state help in countryside problems such as unemployment and poverty.

　　Organizers exultantly compared the demonstration with two of British history's most famous mass protests: the Tolpuddle Martyrs march in support of six farm laborers sent to Australia in 1834, and the 1381 Peasants' Revolt uprising.

　　"Today we are making history.They must listen," said the march's main organizer, James Stanford.

　　March director James Stanford told reporters the march was "the largest civil rights demonstration ever held in London in the last 150 years."

　　The emotive issue of fox hunting — a favorite sport of the British rural aristocracy for centuries, but condemned as barbaric by campaigners for animal rights — was the main focus of the march.

　　But protesters were also marching to bring attention to many other issues, ranging from a lack of affordable housing and decent transport services to unemployment and the suffering of farmers since last year's devastating foot-and-mouth outbreak, which prompted the slaughter of millions of sheep and cattle.

　　"We have no services, we have no post office, we have no shop, we never see a policeman," marcher David Gaunt, from the village of Priors Hardwick in central England, told reporters.

　　Police earlier warned people against driving through central London as many roads were closed for the march which weaved from Hyde Park and St Paul's cathedral to Parliament Square.