British police say up to 2,500 show up to protest Bush

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-16  |     ONLINE EDITION

UP to 2,500 demonstrators held a boisterous rally in London's Parliament Square yesterday as US President George W. Bush dined with his British counterpart nearby, police said.

Protesters blew their whistles, banged their drums, and voiced their opposition to the so-called "War on Terror." A few pelted officers with placards and tried to breach a police cordon set up to block them from getting near Downing Street, where Bush arrived for a private dinner with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Demonstrators chanted "Bush--terrorist" only about 300 yards (meters) away from where the president and prime minister were eating. Police made 25 arrests.

Most of the demonstrators were there to tell Bush goodbye and good riddance, and some had a message for his successor as well.

"This is also a signal to the incoming (US) president that the people of this country are absolutely against this illegal war and destroying civil liberties," said Sarah Cox, a 71-year-old retired teacher who carried a Bush effigy bearing a cowboy hat, toy pistol, and miniature missile.

Writer Sheila O'Callaghan, 59, said she hoped the next president would bring a change in America's relationship to the rest of the world

"Anything else and it would be a tragedy for the whole of humanity," she said.

Security was tight, demonstrators were packed against a massive police barricade. London's Metropolitan Police said they had deployed about 1,200 officers to secure the president's 24-hour visit to Britain, although Deputy Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison told reporters there was no specific threat to the trip.

Earlier in the day, about 70 protesters wearing orange underpants over their clothes gathered at nearby Trafalgar Square to demonstrate against the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The underwear was labeled "Fair Trial My Arse."