TWO thousand protesters are set to descend on Pershore on Saturday for a mass march and rally in the biggest demonstration so far of opposition to the asylum seekers' centre proposed for Throckmorton.

The marchers will assemble in the car park of the Civic Centre in Pershore at 10.30am, before setting off at 11am down the town's High Street, Broad Street and Church Walk, ending up in Abbey Park for a 30-minute rally.

Various speakers will address the protesters in Abbey Park. The march will be led off by a group of 750 protesters - wearing placards numbered one to 750 - representing each of the asylum seekers who could end up at Throckmorton.

The march and rally has been organised by PACT - Protest at the Asylum Centre at Throckmorton. The group represents the views of objectors vehemently opposed to the Government's plans to house 750 asylum seekers on the former airfield site, next door to a village with a population of just 160 people.

Among their objections are that the proposed centre would swamp the neighbouring rural communities, putting extra pressure on education and health services locally, as well as the police.

PACT's members say their views are backed by refugee welfare agencies such as the Red Cross, human rights organisations and the Church of England.

PACT claims the site being considered would strand refugees in "a rural backwater with no public services or public transport".

The protest rally has been timed to take place just weeks before the Home Office is due to submit an official application to Wychavon District Council for the building of the asylum seekers' centre.

Similar applications for such centres in Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire have already been turned down by local councils there, although the Home Office has appealed against those decisions, which could prompt public inquiries.

Defiant PACT chairman, Liz Tucker, a Throckmorton resident and Worcestershire county councillor, said: "Beverly Hughes, the Home Office Minister responsible, can bow out now, gracefully but, if she persists in this unsustainable scheme, she'll find she'll have a fight on her hands and one she'll lose badly."

Car parking facilities will be available in the Civic Centre car parks. PACT also expects to have extra parking signposted on the day of the march.