Irish activist interrupts Blair press conference

Irish peace activist Caoimhe Butterly interrupted a press conference in the Lebanese captial Beirut today by accusing British…

Irish peace activist Caoimhe Butterly interrupted a press conference in the Lebanese captial Beirut today by accusing British Prime Minister Tony Blair of complicity Israel's bombardment of the country.

Ms Butterly paraded in front of Mr Blair and Lebanese Premier Fuad Siniora as they staged a joint press conference, waving a banner and shouting: "This is an insult to the families of thousands of Lebanese who have died. Shame on you, shame on you, Mr Blair."

As security guards bundled her away, both Mr Blair and Mr Siniora gesticulated and appealed for calm.

About 2,000 Lebanese protested at the British prime minister's talks with the Lebanese government, accusing him of backing Israel's 34-day war with Hizbullah, and several cabinet ministers refused to meet him.

READ MORE

Demonstrators were infuriated by Mr Blair's refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire from Israel in the bloody conflict which raged in July.

"He was a party in the war," Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh, of the Shia Muslim Amal movement, said. "He supported the US position and did not call for a ceasefire . . . it is natural that we do not receive him."

The conflict killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Two Hizbullah ministers also declined to attend Mr Blair's talks with the Lebanese government, even though a spokesman for Mr Blair said the British leader had been ready to meet them.

Mr Blair had also been due to meet Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is the leader of Amal and a Hizbullah ally, but an aide to Mr Berri said he had left on a private visit abroad.

In 2004 Ms Butterly (27) staged a two-week hunger strike outside the Dublin offices of Cement Roadstone Holdings. She was seeking to focus attention on the role she claimed the firm is playing in supplying building materials for the construction of the wall Israel is building along the occupied West Bank.

In 2002, the Cork woman was shot in the leg by an Israeli soldier during the Israeli army's assault on the Jenin refugee camp in Palestine.