A word in your ear Mr President...

si | 20.11.2003 16:38 | Bush 2003 | Sheffield

MORE than 100 students protesting over US President George Bush's visit to Britain caused traffic disruption in Sheffield city centre. Students swelled the ranks of a Stop The War Coalition protest outside the Town Hall. Shoppers on Pinstone Street were greeted with chants of "George Bush, Uncle Sam, this is your Vietnam". The group made its way through the city centre to Furnival Gate roundabout where protesters sat in the road causing hold-ups. Traffic began to mount up as more police arrived and closed part of the road while they attempted to persuade the protesters - with banners declaring the American president "World's No1 Terrorist" and "Bush Blair Butchers" - to move on. Demonstrators chanted through loud hailers "we all live in a terrorist regime" to the melody of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Dick Pitt, a member of the Heeley Against The War group and a Hallam University maths lecturer, said: "Bush is not welcome here. It is Iraq which brought us all together, but all sorts of people are objecting to America's policy, on nuclear weapons and the agreements they have torn up around the world." He said he believed there was still pressure on the US to use its massive stocks of weapons and that it was "actively planning other military adventures". Mr Pitt added: "We came within an ace of stopping this war and pulling the British out. It was clearly naked American aggression. "MPs look at this sort of protest and will know people care. That's why Britain was wobbling over this conflict. Sadly it wobbled the wrong way." After the march, Inspector Pat Casserly, who is in charge of the police response to anti-war protests, said he welcomed the co-operation of the protesters and the tolerance shown by those affected by the disruption. A police spokeswoman said: "The police have a contingency plan for the flexible deployment of resources to accommodate a safe and peaceful protest, and to assist people going about their local business. "There will be a number of future protests to coincide with the visit of President Bush, as far as we understand." n Tony Blair put a noose around George Bush's neck last night then pulled him to the ground. But this was not part of the US President's state visit to the UK - but a stunt staged by anti-war protesters in Barnsley. The 'straw man' statue of George Bush was pulled over from the empty plinth in the town centre to mirror the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein by US troops in Baghdad during the war. 20 November 2003 Source