Hundreds of Muslims from the district were today joining a rally in London to protest against the publication of controversial cartoons.

The protest, from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park, is being organised by the Muslim Action Committee - a coalition of mosques, Muslim organisations and community leaders from across the UK - and is expected to attract support from thousands of Muslims.

Javaid Iqbal, who is helping to organise the Bradford contingent, said: "We are not looking at the cartoons in isolation.

"To us they were deeply offensive and we feel it was a deliberate attempt to demonise Islam.

"Why would anyone do something like that?

"You cannot hide under the banner of 'freedom of speech' and pretend it will be okay because freedom of speech has to have parameters or there would be anarchy."

The 26-year-old from Manningham

was among a group of people in the

city handing out leaflets promoting the peaceful demonstration at last week's Friday prayers in mosques across Bradford.

Some 2,000 leaflets have been distributed in Bradford and Mr Iqbal said he expected at least 1,000 men and women from the city to join the protest.

Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits any depiction of Allah and the Prophet.

Mr Iqbal said Muslims felt they wanted to unite as one body following the publication of the cartoons, which were first published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September and subsequently re-printed around the world.

The cartoons include one portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

"The demonstration is an opportunity for all Muslims to unite under one banner and make clear that people will not

tolerate insults to the prophet," said Mr Iqbal.

"We want sincere apologies from those who published the cartoons and some sort of regulations in place which puts parameters and limits on what the papers can say.

"There have to be boundaries. We want something in place to stop this happening again."

The publication have sparked protests across the globe.

At least five people died after protests against cartoons across Pakistan became violent this week.