In January 2003 a group of anti-war activists joined O'Keefe in London and set out to carry out the plan. On 25 January 2003 a group of 50 volunteers left London and headed for Baghdad with the intention of acting as human shields.[5] The convoy travelled through Europe and Turkey by bus and picked up more volunteers along the way, totalling roughly 75 people.[6] It has been estimated that 200 to 500 people eventually made their way into Iraq before the invasion in March.[7][8]