Thousands protest in London over dirty rivers and seas

Thousands of protesters dressed in blue told the government to "stop poisoning Britain's water" as they marched through London yesterday calling for action on the country's contaminated seas and rivers.

- Damien Gayle

A coalition of more than 130 organisations called supporters out onto the streets yesterday afternoon, aiming to create the country's biggest ever protest over water.

The broadcaster Chris Packham, the actor Jim Murray, and Giles Bristow, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, led the march from the Albert embankment in Vauxhall to Parliament Square, with banners reading: "Stop poisoning Britain's waterways" and "Cut the crap, save our rivers". Behind were thousands of protesters in blue, many carrying Extinction Rebellion flags.

Bristow said: "We've been campaigning for over 30 years - nearly 35 years, in fact - to end shit in our waters, because we are fed up of surfing, of swimming, of trying to enjoy our natural blue spaces but they're being polluted in front of our eyes.