2,000 protestors picket Bush/Blair war summit

Around 2,000 anti-war protestors gathered in Co Down, last night to express their anger at US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's war summit in Hillsborough Castle.

The protestors accused Mr Bush and Mr Blair of attempting to hide their current destruction of Iraq behind the cloak of the Irish peace process.

Addressing the crowd, journalist Eamonn McCann asked: "Where else in Europe could George Bush come and present himself as a man who is involved in peacemaking other than here.

"He comes to us steeped in blood from head to foot to talk of peace. How dare he. How dare he insult the people of Ireland."

Sinn Fein's Mitchel McLaughlin was heckled by the crowd when he attempted to give a speech rejecting the hypocrisy of his party's decision to meet Mr Bush despite its anti-war stance.