ANTI-WAR protesters were today given the go-ahead to stage a second massive protest march in the Capital on the weekend before the G8 summit despite warnings of chaos.

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to join the Stop the War Coalition march on Sunday, July 3, the day after 200,000 anti-poverty protesters descend on the city. The second march will force the closure of Princes Street and take over Calton Hill.

The Coalition were also given permission to stage a rally on the same day as the Make Poverty History march when it ends at The Meadows. The move was given the go-ahead by councillors despite warnings it would extend the massive disruption already expected.

Traders warned that some businesses would be forced to close for the whole weekend as a result of the twin marches.

The march and rally were allowed to go ahead after police withdrew their objections to the rally being staged on the Bruntsfield Links.

Today, Stop The War Coalition spokesman Chris Nineham said allowing the march to go ahead was a "victory for good sense and for freedom of speech".

His colleague Andrew Burgin denied the gathering would be violent and said they had a right to protest. He added: "We have never had any trouble, our demonstrations have always been entirely peaceful."

But city councillor Tom Ponton today said the second march would create further chaos for motorists and leave businesses counting the cost of being forced to close.

Councillor Ponton, who owns the Oz Bar on the Grassmarket, said that as a businessman he felt very strongly about the effect the protests were likely to have on the business community. He said: "I think people have the right to protest, but obviously, because police are stopping the traffic for the marches, the knock-on effect for traffic coming in and out of the city is enormous.

"I think the police bill for this year could even be a quarter of a million pounds for marches which is taking the vital resources away from the police budget."

Tim Steward, chairman of the Edinburgh branch of the Federation of Small Businesses,

"Small businesses are now looking at losing two days of trade during a busy summer weekend."