A PEACE rally held at the weekend called on the Government to withdraw British troops from Iraq.

The Stop The War demonstration at Grey's Monument in Newcastle was attended by about 100 people.

Some were peace activists keen to urge Prime Minister Tony Blair to pull forces from the war-torn country as the British death toll reached 101.

Others were shoppers in the city centre who stopped to listen to passionate speeches from people opposed to the Middle East conflict.

It was staged in support of Military Families Against The War and attended by people who have lost loved ones in the conflict.

Paul Long, of South Shields, Simon Miller, of Washington, and Ben Hyde, from Northallerton, were among six Royal Military Police shot by a mob in Al Majar Al-Kabir in June 2003.

Corporal Long's 23-year-old brother, Byron Long, a warehouse assistant, made a speech at the rally.

He said: "The only time people have stood up and questioned what we were doing over there was when there were bombings in Spain and the London bombings.

"It brought the reality of war home to them and made them feel for the first time that they could be affected.

"If we are attacked again, perhaps it will bring the war to our doorsteps and the public will change their views."

Some of the crowd held roses while others clutched flyers with the number 100 on it to represent the 100th British soldier to die in Iraq.

Stop The War spokeswoman Vicki Gilbert Jackson said: "The Government says it is unpatriotic to condemn the war, but we say the Government has betrayed our troops and our nation."