Today marks 20 years since thousands of Sussex demonstrators joined the largest protest march in British history, demonstrating against the war in Iraq.

More than 28 coaches left from Brighton full of protesters bound for London with many more travelling from across Sussex by train.

Roughly one million people took part in the anti-war march through the capital.

The Argus: Anti-war protestors marched through central LondonAnti-war protestors marched through central London (Image: PA/Johnny Green)

Among those to protest against the planned invasion was Brighton boxer Chris Eubank, who parked a truck in Trafalgar Square covered in anti-war banners which read: “Integrity is the only course, not war. Reason should be the only weapon.”

He told The Argus at the time: “The view of the people on the march and people around the world is we don’t want to wage war on Iraq.”

The Argus: Chris Eubank at the anti-war demonstration in London in February 2003Chris Eubank at the anti-war demonstration in London in February 2003 (Image: Andy Lowe)

Former Brighton and Hove mayor Francis Tonks also expressed his objections to the impending war.

Norman Baker, former Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, described the demonstration as an “extremely powerful coming together of huge numbers of people” to tell then Prime Minister Tony Blair “people want peace not war.”

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Cable Radio, the production company for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 2003, teamed up with Brighton design duo Short Long Graphics to design a peace emblem for the protest, worn by some demonstrators on T-shirts at the march.

The design featured two hands clasped to form a heart.

Sarah Lu, co-founder of Short Long Graphics, told The Argus at the time: "We didn't want another T-shirt saying Stop the War.

"Our design is not directly about this war but more generally about peace."

The Argus: Peace protestors climbed Brighton's Clock Tower in a protest on the day of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003Peace protestors climbed Brighton's Clock Tower in a protest on the day of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 (Image: Simon Dack)

More than 600 cities took part in a coordinated day of protests across the world to oppose the war, with up to ten million people taking part in demonstrations.

Around 200 campaigners gathered outside Churchill Square in Brighton the day before the London demonstration demanding no military action be taken against Iraq, with a subsequent demonstration taking place in the city on the day US-led forces invaded the country on March 20 2003.

As many as 200,000 Iraqi civilians died in the subsequent invasion and war in Iraq, according to the Iraq Body Count Project.

Many human rights abuses and war crimes were also committed by Coalition forces and private contractors, including the torture and abuse of prisoners at a prison in Abu Ghraib, the use of white phosphorous in the battle of Fallujah and the murder of unarmed civilians by US soldiers.

Although a poll by YouGov at the outbreak of the war revealed that 53 per cent of Britons backed military action against Iraq, this had fallen to just 27 per cent by 2013.