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Australian protesters to Bush: 'Go home'
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- U.S. President George W. Bush hadn't even arrived in Australia Wednesday before protesters began demanding that he go home. About 2,000 people chanting "Iraq for Iraqis, troops out now" marched the one kilometer (half a mile) from Sydney Town Hall to the U.S. consulate, blocking downtown streets of the nation's largest city in the evening rush hour. Dozens of police, including riot squads, watched the noisy yet peaceful protest, and took no action. Bush arrived in the the Canberra on Wednesday for a 21-hour stay. He will depar Thursday evening for home. On Thursday, amid the tightest security ever in the nation's quiet capital city, Bush will address the national Parliament, visit the national war memorial and discuss trade and the war on terrorism with Prime Minister John Howard. Howard, a staunch U.S. ally, sent 2,000 troops to the Iraq war despite strong initial public opposition. About 1,500 Australian troops also went to Afghanistan. Police expect around 5,000 people to attend rallies in Canberra on Thursday, with most voicing their anger over the Iraq war. Parliament House has been closed to the public, and barricades erected around it. Smaller protest marches were being held in several other cities. Protesters said Wednesday they plan to torch a bamboo pyre titled Prophecies of the Burning Bush outside Parliament House when Bush makes his speech. Bundles of bamboo and effigies of Bush and Howard have been stockpiled in Canberra in preparation for the demonstration. "It will take place as close as we can get to Parliament House," veteran peace activist Graeme Dunstan said. Dunstan said he protested in 1966 when Lyndon Johnson became the first U.S. President to visit Australia, which at that time had sent troops to fight with U.S. forces in Vietnam. In his speech to Parliament, Bush, the first U.S. president to visit since Bill Clinton in 1996, was expected to formally thank Australia for the troops it sent to the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to explain why he believed the Iraq war was necessary. Australia's opposition Labor Party, which was against the Iraq war, is divided over how it should treat the president. Parliamentary sessions are often rowdy affairs and Labor leader Simon Crean has told his lawmakers not to be disrespectful of Bush. However, one opposition lawmaker Harry Quick told protesters in Sydney on Wednesday he challenged that order. "Why should we respect this duplicitous, conniving, and lying president of the United States?" he said. "When I was growing up as a young man, I was taught respect had to be earned. George Bush will never be shown respect by the countless Australians who realize our government entered a war which was based on a deliberate lie." Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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