THOUSANDS of anti-war demonstrators greeted politicians returning to Parliament this evening by urging them to stop bombing Syria.

Assembling on Parliament Square, protesters mobilised at 72 hours’ notice for the demonstration to oppose US-led forces attacking Syria.

The action, which was organised by the Stop the War Coalition (StWC), followed a weekend of emergency demonstrations held across more than 30 different cities in Britain, following the announcement that British forces were launching military attacks in Syria.

The crowd expressed rage that the government had acted without the authorisation of Parliament, with demonstrators accusing PM Theresa May of bypassing the vote for fear of handing a massive political victory to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn if the vote was to fall.

Ray Mercer, a retired aerospace worker, told the Star: “The fact Trump and May started bombing Syria the morning chemical weapons inspectors were arriving in the country tells you all you need to know.

“After the disaster in Iraq, have we learnt nothing?

“We need international pressure and negotiations, not Western interference pretending to be humanitarian.”

Meanwhile, speakers from the labour and anti-war movements pointed out that merely 22 per cent of the population support war with Syria, and that a YouGov poll conducted this weekend saying that only 36 per cent of the population have backed Ms May on her latest action.

This sentiment was echoed by Labour MPs Richard Burgon, Emma Dent-Coad, Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Chris Williamson, alongside war veteran Ben Griffin and peace activist Bruce Kent.

Large numbers of protesters also amassed up and down the country, in Exeter and Bristol, following StWC’s call to expand the level of opposition to the government “from Orkney to the Isle of Wight.”

Daisy Carter, a Young Labour and Momentum activist helping to organise the Bristol rally, told the Star that the recent action in Syria was “inseparable” from the “long history of Western aggression” in the region.

“I feel that the most important emphasis the British people can make is to call for an end to British bombs falling across the world.”

Ms May faced angry Labour MPs in Parliament today after giving a statement to the Commons about the air strikes.

Mr Corbyn accused the PM of intervening in the Syrian civil war on a “whim” days before Parliament was recalled so that she could avoid scrutiny.