A wedding march swiftly transformed into a mock bloody funeral today as protesters against bombing in Afghanistan blocked a main road to stage a mass “die in”.

“Can I have some more fake blood over here?” asked one of about 47 members of Justice Not Vengeance, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Catholic Worker Movement commemorating the bombing of a wedding party in Haji Nabu, Afghanistan, two years ago today.

“I'm not sure you need any more” said another as police officers surrounded the rain-drenched, wedding-dress-clad “corpses” by Northwood Headquarters.

The protest, which started around noon at Northwood Underground station, brought chants, banners, drums and leaflets up Watford Road and Sandy Lane before it was stopped by police before reaching the gate of Northwood Headquarters.

Dozens of police vans and cars lined the surrounding streets, diverting traffic away from the main road and onto side roads while the walking and lie-down protest took place.

The protest's organiser, Maya Evans, who in 2005 became the first person to be arrested for staging an unauthorised protest near the houses of parliament in London, said: “We wouldn't let 47 people die at a wedding in this country so why should we allow it to happen in a different country.”

When asked what her alternative was to military activity in the region, she said: “The dropping of US bombs on civilians is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan nor is a phoney Government the US Government tries to put in place. It has to be a grass roots solution that comes from the people of Afghanistan.”

She also condemned what she said were torture camps set up by the United States Government, backed by President Barack Obama.

A similar protest held in Northwood in 2003 led to 70 people being arrested for sitting down in the road.

Ms Evans said the current protest was arranged beforehand with the police and the RAF base.