Five members of the Scottish Parliament have joined forces to launch a white ribbon protest against possible war in Iraq.

The MSPs said they spoke for the majority of the Scottish people as they declared their support for the public show of opposition to conflict.

The campaign launch at Holyrood involved Scottish Green Party leader Robin Harper, independent MSP Dennis Canavan and Labour's John McAllion.

Lloyd Quinan took part in the launch

They were joined by the Scottish National Party's Lloyd Quinan and Margo MacDonald, his former colleague who now sits as an independent.

Money raised from the sale of the ribbons will be collected by the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

The cash will then go towards its aim of taking Prime Minister Tony Blair, Defence Minister Geoff Hoon and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to the International Criminal Court "should a war against Iraq go ahead and crimes against humanity are perpetrated".

David McKenzie of Scottish CND said: "The public can show their opposition to the war by wearing a white ribbon.

"Any money raised from the sale of white ribbons will be used to try and make Tony Blair legally accountable for any crimes against humanity committed if Iraq is attacked."

Robin Harper: "A crime against humanity"

Campaigners argue that war crimes can be defined as encompassing "indiscriminate methods of attack or weapon systems" of the types used in the Gulf War, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

Mr McAllion, the MSP for Dundee East, admitted his stance put him at odds with his own party leader.

However, he stressed that the move to take Britain to the International Criminal Court would only take place if there were breaches of international humanitarian law.

"Only if he breaks the law, and no party leader is above the law," said Mr McAllion.

"I would support anybody who committed those kind of crimes, no matter who they are, being brought to book."

Mr Harper said: "As many as 100,000 innocent men, women and children could be killed if this war goes ahead.

"This is surely a crime against humanity."