Protesters took the campaign from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street (Pic: Glen Tarman)

The overnight candlelit vigil in Whitehall, London, was followed by an early morning march on Downing Street.

Campaigners have also held talks with the three main political parties to call for improved trade conditions.

The protest began at Westminster Abbey, with readings and performances from Ronan Keating, Beverley Knight, Vanessa Redgrave and Pete Postlethwaite.

Foreign imports

The Wake Up to Trade Justice event was organised by the Trade Justice Movement - a coalition of 65 UK organisations - and was part of a series of global events held from 10-16 April.

Police estimate that around 7,000 people attended the Whitehall protest, although organisers believed the figure to be at least double that.

Protesters marched from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street at 0630 BST, organisers said.

In Brussels, a funeral procession saw coffins filled with rice, chickens and tomatoes to highlight what campaigners say is the effect EU free trade has on communities and livelihoods in developing countries.

I went to a quarry where guys were working for less than one euro a day, it was heartbreaking Ronan Keating Battle for hearts and media space

Protesters want to see an end to trade conditions which, they say, force farmers in developing countries to compete with cheaper foreign imports.

Ronan Keating, who travelled to Ghana last May with the charity Christian Aid to see the effects of "unjust" trade, told Friday's gathering: "I wanted to educate myself and bring my message back. What I saw blew my mind.

"I went to a quarry where guys were working for less than one euro a day, it was heartbreaking. They were working without a break in the sun."

Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who also performed at the abbey, said he did not think the group's demands were "naive or anything like that" but that they were seeking an end to "a series of misguided economic policies".

'Doorstep issue'

Organiser Glen Tarman said: "This event should be a wake-up call for political leaders of all the main parties - if elected, they must make sure urgent action is taken if we are to have justice in international trade and start to make poverty history in 2005.

"This was the biggest mass protest of the election campaign yet. We are making world poverty a doorstep issue."

Other events around the capital included stand-up from comedian Robert Newman at the Methodist Central Hall Chapel in central London, where seminars on the issue of trade justice were also to be held.