Hundreds of protesting farmers and Euro-sceptics will descend on York this weekend to lobby European Finance Ministers.

All York police leave has been cancelled on Saturday as officers are deployed to control marches and meetings, staged to coincide with the Ecofin summit.

The events include:

A march and open-air mass meeting organised by the Anti-Maastricht Alliance, expected to attract between 500 and 1,000 protesters.

A mass lobby by hundreds of farmers calling for the lifting of the ban on British beef exports.

Police are anticipating other smaller protests, for example by Amnesty International, and the city centre crowds, already swelled by the usual Saturday shoppers, may be joined by Fulham football fans attending a match against York City.

Officers say that for safety reasons, tractors and animals will not be allowed at the farmers' peaceful lobby, which will take place in St Helen's Square at 12 noon to coincide with a walk by EU ministers from the Assembly Rooms to the Mansion House for lunch.

The lobby follows a vital decision by European agriculture ministers last night to lift the ban on exports from Ulster - where there is a computerised monitoring system for tracking cattle movements and tracing any outbreak of BSE.

Ecofin is seen as a golden opportunity to press for a total lifting of the worldwide blockade on British beef. A special manifesto, translated into French, German and Italian, will be handed to ministers on Saturday, explaining why it should be lifted.

The Anti-Maastricht march will go through the city centre on Saturday morning from the Museum Gardens to St Sampson's Square, where at 11am soap box orators will address the crowds.

Eric Wood, of the York Anti-Maastricht Alliance, whose members are opposed to economic and monetary union, said shoppers were in for a spectacle of great debate.

"What is most important is that they can come and listen to the speakers. We are turning the city into a Speakers' Corner for the day.''

Motorists are being warned off the city centre on Saturday. Blake Street, North Street and Duncombe Place will be closed all day, and extended traffic restrictions will apply in the city centre. Traffic will also be held up at times during the day when the VIPs are on the move.

Meanwhile, buses using St Leonard's Place are being diverted to the south side of the centre, to Piccadilly.

The Evening Press guide to the European Finance meeting and the European flavoured events in York.

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