More than 1,000 people attended a national demonstration in protest at the continued imprisonment of nine British residents in Guantanamo Bay.

Brighton organisation Save Omar is lobbying for justice for Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes, from Saltdean.

It organised the London march, which attracted about 1,100 supporters from all over the UK.

Family members of all nine British detainees joined the march carrying photos of their loved ones.

Famous faces included actress Vanessa Redgrave, former Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg, North London Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, CND vice-president Bruce Kent, pensioner activist Walter Wolfgang and Yvonne Ridley, the British journalist who was captured by the Taliban in 2001 and later converted to Islam.

Protesters started at St James's Park and marched past Downing Street to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square.

Family members read out poems and letters, as well as statements from Amnesty International, the CND, a Bloody Sunday relative and Labour politician Tony Benn.

Mr Deghayes, a 36-year-old law graduate, has been held under no charge in Guantanamo Bay for almost four years.

His brother Abu-baker, 38, said: "Today was very moving.

"It means so much to see so many people turn up to protest. The only hope the families get is when they see that kind of support."

Jackie Chase, 48, a leading Save Omar campaigner who was instrumental in organising the rally, said: "There were so many different people who oppose torture and detention without charge coming together. It felt like we were sowing the seeds of something big."

Paddy O'Keefe, 62, another principal organiser from Save Omar and a member of the Respect Party in Brighton and Hove, said: "The fact there are still British residents in Guantanamo Bay should be a mark of shame on the British Government.

"Tony Blair said Guantanamo Bay was an anomaly'. It is not an anomaly, it is symptomatic of a policy by the American government for full spectrum control around the world.

"They are saying This is how we will treat anyone who opposes us.'"

Fellow Brighton human rights activist Graham Ennis, 61, said: "There were little boys, four years of age, who had never seen their fathers. It brought home to everyone the sheer cruelty of what is being done in the name of the War on Terror."