Organisers of the mass protest condemned the court case on the anonymous Soldier F charged with murdering two people during Bloody Sunday as hundreds took to the streets in the Capital to protest. One organiser called the case “one of the crimes of the century” as they were flanked by 500 people with flags and “support Soldier F” t-shirts. Another former soldier said: “It’s not just about one individual, it’s about many individuals and about the future.

“It’s not just about Northern Ireland but any conflict we’ve been involved in and could be involved in.”

The 47-year-old, who served in the Army between 1990 and 1998, added: “Why should we, when we’re following orders, face prosecution?”

His friend, 58, who served in Northern Ireland in the Navy in the 1990s, said: “What really gets me is that they’ve brought back Diplock courts – Soldier F is facing trial by a single judge without a jury and no-one should ever be tried without a jury.

“It’s a political thing rather than a justice thing. He’s been thrown to the wolves.”

After the protest, many of those involved migrated to a makeshift camp by Wellington Arch where they were planning to spend the night.

One RAF veteran, who served in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, said: “We don’t agree with [Soldier F’s prosecution] seeing as all the IRA and other paramilitaries got off scot-free.”

Referring to his time in Northern Ireland during the peace process, he said: “Killings there were a daily occurrence, the [Northern Irish] lived with it day in, day out, but on the mainland you didn’t hear about it unless it was a major attack.”

They gathered in Trafalgar Square for 11am and set off for a march towards Westminster at 12pm.

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Of those demonstrating where former servicemen, who joined members of the public to form a human chain for the Rolling Thunder demonstrations this afternoon.

Soldier F, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is the only person from the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment ever to be tried for the deaths of 13 civil rights protesters and one passerby in Londonderry in 1972.

The event was called Bloody Sunday by the papers when news of it broke.

The soldier has been with the murder of William McKinney, 27, and 22-year-old James Wray, and the attempted murder of four other men – Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O’Donnell.

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He faces one other charge of “attempted murder of a person or persons unknown”, the Mail Online reports.

An inquiry set up by former Prime Minister Tony Blair – called the Saville Report – found Soldier F to have killed two other men – Bernard McGuigan, 41, and 31-year-old Patrick Doherty.

The findings of the 1998 report were published in 2010, leading to the trial.

Veterans have reacted angrily to the decision to take legal action decades after the bloodshed.

Today is one of many furious protests against the case going to trial, with the date yet to be made public.

In April, thousands of bikers roared into central London to protest against the prosecution of the unnamed soldier.

An estimated 7,000 Bikers from all over the country descended on Westminster bringing chaos to traffic and public transport in the area.

Bloody Sunday helped galvanise support for the Provisional IRA early in the Troubles. An image of a Catholic priest waving a bloodstained handkerchief as he tried to help a victim to safety went around the world.

A public inquiry conducted by a senior judge shortly after the deaths was branded a whitewash by victims’ families and a campaign was launched for a new public inquiry.

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