AN anti-war protest group led by outspoken Labour MP George Galloway will roll into Burnley next week.

In recent weeks Mr Galloway has been gathering public support for opposition to a war against Iraq.

Joining Mr Galloway on his visit to the town will be Yvonne Ridley, the journalist famously captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan last year.

After days of uncertainty about her safety, Ms Ridley was eventually released in Pakistan after interventions from British diplomats.

Mr Galloway said: "The opinion polls show that the vast majority of the British public do not want a war with Iraq.

"All the Muslim world is against the idea, but President Bush, helped by Mr Blair, wants to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis in a war that has nothing to do with saving the world from terror.

"It is vital that as many people as possible turn up on the 19th to register their protest at this drift to war."

Mr Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin and veteran campaigner against the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the UN following the last Gulf War, will be joined on the speakers platform by Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Chairman of The Muslim Parliament.

And he is appealing to everyone who opposes war with Iraq to join him at the Friendship Centre in Burnley Lane Baptist Church, Colne Road, on Thursday, September 19, at 7.30pm.

The meeting will also be addressed by CND's Norma Wilson and Stop the War Coalition's John Rees as well as Burnley born and bred Assad Rehman, who now works for the Newham Monitoring Project.

Socialist Alliance members in Pendle are also taking to the streets to protest against an Allied invasion of Iraq.

On Saturday the group will be in Nelson and Colne town centres, collecting signatures for a petition against conflict.

Pendle Socialist Alliance spokesman Steve Lax said: "There is widespread opposition to the Bush-Blair plans to attack Iraq.

"Launching air-strikes will mean thousands of innocent civilians killed and injured, just as it did in Afghanistan last year.

"And it is not going to stop terrorism, which is what they say this is about. In fact it is likely to trigger further terrorist attacks."