London ? The countryside came to the city Sunday when more than 400,000 protesters took to the streets of London in the name of saving Britain’s vanishing rural way of life and the recreational activity they insist is a symbol of it all: fox-hunting.

The “Liberty and Livelihood” march was billed by organizers as the biggest protest rally in the city’s history. But as mobs go, this lot was polite, well-fed, nicely dressed and decidedly tranquil.

A counter shows attendance exceeding 400,000 as protesters march through central London in a Liberty and Livelihood March to defend the right of Britons to hunt with hounds, in London. Demonstrators marched through the streets Sunday to support fox hunting and the rural way of life, and to send a clear message for Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“You’re seeing the real Middle England here,” said Timothy Jacques, who lives in north London but was born in a village in Hampshire, southwest of London. He was wearing a brown blazer and felt hat and carrying a poster of a fox with a face that bore more than a passing resemblance to that of Prime Minister Tony Blair the political leader everyone here seemed most put off by.

“That’s not the prime minister, that’s a fox,” said Jacques. “He’s an urban person who doesn’t have a clue about what country life is about.”

The marchers made their way from Hyde Park Corner in the west and Blackfriars in the east through Parliament Square. There were no speeches, but lots of sentiment. They and their leaders said they were angry with Blair’s left-of-center Labor government, arguing that he is seeking to ban fox-hunting rather than focusing on improving rural life.

Britons treat the country with an almost religious sense of reverence. But as in the United States, country life is under threat here. The family farm is a rapidly fading institution. Cities like London, with a population of 8 million and growing, are gobbling up vast amounts of farmland for new housing and roadways. The alliance says Blair’s government spends 20 percent more per capita on metropolitan areas than rural ones, which suffer from lack of housing and public transportation.

But the issue that galvanized thousands of these marchers is the fate of fox-hunting. For years, animal lovers and the left have lobbied to ban it, partly out of concern for animals and partly out of class resentment against those well-off folks who consider weekends with the horses and the hounds Britain’s last sacred rite. Blair came into office five years ago promising to outlaw fox-hunting, but he has managed to delay action and put off an emotional confrontation.

Polls indicate that more than 60 percent favor outlawing fox-hunting, and last year the House of Commons voted by more than 2 to 1 for such a ban.