Sat Oct 6, 11:16 AM ET

LONDON - Thousands of people took to the streets of central London Saturday in a show of solidarity with democracy protesters in Myanmar.

Organisers of the march told AFP that an estimated 10,000 people had turned out, but police said the figure was about 3,000.

Saffron-robed Buddhist monks led off the marchers from the Tate Britain art gallery after throwing petals into the River Thames opposite.

The marchers, many shouting "Burma, Burma, free, free", stopped outside the British prime minister's official residence on Downing Street and tied red headbands similar to those worn by protesters in Myanmar to the gates.

A rally was then held at Trafalgar Square where a number of MPs, human rights campaigners and Myanmar exiles told the crowd there was an urgent need for United Nations action against the military regime.

Monks began the rally with prayers for peace and an end to the violence.

Amnesty International's secretary general Irene Khan said: "Burma is not a human rights emergency of today, last week or last month. It is a human rights emergency that the world has chosen to forget for the last 20 years.

"We will not forget this time round, we will not let the people of Burma down.

"I cannot think of a better way of getting the message across today and in the words of (the imprisoned democracy leader) Aung San Suu Kyi herself who said the worst prison is fear and the real freedom is freedom from fear.

"That is what we want for the people of Burma: freedom from fear."

Refugee Myo Thien, who fled Myanmar in 2003, said she was encouraged by the world's condemnation of the junta's bloody crackdown on the protesters, adding: "We have had good statements but now we need real action."

Similar protests and vigils took place in other cities and around the world.

Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave his support to the marchers, pledged an extra one million pounds in emergency aid to Myanmar and vowed to maintain the pressure on the international community to act.