6 Music and Asian Network: protesters hold 'flashmobs'

Campaigners opposed to a multimillion-pound programme of BBC cuts, including the closure of 6 Music and Asian Network, are planning mass demonstrations outside the corporation's offices in seven cities today .

Plans to axe the two digital radio stations and cut back other areas of BBC activity, including its online operation, were announced by the director general, Mark Thompson, in March.

Campaigners will mark the end of the BBC Trust's three-month consultation on Thompson's strategy review by organising "flashmobs" in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Thousands of people are expected to voice their opposition to the cuts by gathering outside BBC offices at 1pm today armed with musical instruments, whistles and party hooters.

A flurry of submissions have been made to the BBC Trust, including music industry trade body the BPI, in recent days.

The music industry is campaigning against the closure of 6 Music, arguing that it supports new acts and provides licence-fee payers with a wide variety of musical styles that is not rivalled in the commercial sector.

Demonstrators at the BBC Trust's London offices on Great Portland Street will hand in a petition signed by 80,000 people while buskers play outside, according to protest organisers.

The mass demonstrations have been organised by 38 Degrees, a not-for-profit organisation set up to make it easier for members of the public to get involved in campaigns, the National Union of Journalists and the organisers of the campaigns Save 6 Music and the Save the Asian Network. Members of the NUJ and broadcasting union Bectu will be taking part in the Portland Street flashmob.

38 Degrees helped to organise the noisy protests in favour of voting reform earlier this month outside the Cabinet Office in London, where senior figures from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties were taking part in negotiations about forming a coalition government.

The executive director of 38 Degrees, David Babbs, said: "These flashmobs show just how strongly we feel about opposing these cuts to the BBC ... Let's hope the BBC Trust recognise this strength of public opinion."