About 200 anti-war protestors took to Gateshead Millennium Bridge last night, chanting resistance slogans in the direction of a Royal Navy ship.

Members of Tyneside Stop The War Coalition had hoped to block the progress along the Tyne of the officer training vessel, HMS Example, whose home berth is between the Millennium and Tyne bridges.

Many of the protestors chained themselves to the bridge railings and said they would only be removed by force. But by 8.30pm it became clear that HMS Example was not moving from its moorings. The protest finished at 9pm.

* Anti-war campaigners will converge on Hartlepool today in protest at the threat of war.

Townspeople are expected to swell the ranks of a march through the town.

One of those taking part, Daniel McCarte, said the Muslim Association of Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Stop the War Coalition and churches were supporting the rally.

It assembles at 5.15 pm, at the Grange Road Methodist Church.